Abstract
Early School Leaving (ESL) is a problem for many countries and some have pledged to reduce the number of children leaving school early to below 10% by 2020. Between October 2015 and September 2017, Italy, Greece and Latvia implemented an Erasmus+ project that used robotics to reduce the risk of ESL. The effectiveness of the teaching and learning materials developed during the project and the pedagogical strategies used were examined in groups at high-risk of ESL and in the work of the teachers participating in the project. In this paper, the use of robotics to reduce the risks of early school leaving is analysed from the perspective of sustainable education. Mixed methods were used to evaluate the project, and several tools were developed to gather qualitative and quantitative data. Preliminary evaluation of the project was based on action research principles.
It was concluded that the use of robotics enhanced the motivation to learn in students at high-risk of ESL and encouraged them to construct knowledge actively and independently, thus reducing their risk of ESL and in the long-term ensuring the 4th SDG was reached, particularly sustainable education. Analysis of teachers’ responses also supported the conclusion that the use of robotics improved the students’ attitude towards learning, motivation and ensured active participation in the learning process.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Alimisis, D. (2013). Educational robotics: Open questions and new challenges. Themes in Science and Technology Education, 6(1), 63–71.
Alimisis, D. (2014). Educational robotics in teacher education: An innovative tool for promoting quality education. In L. Daniela et al. (Eds.), Teacher of the 21st century (pp. 28–39). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Atmatzidou, S., & Demetriadis, S. (2016). Advancing students’ computational thinking skills through educational robotics: A study on age and gender relevant differences. Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 75, 661–670.
Benitti, F. B. V., & Spolaōr, N. (2017). How have robots supported STEM teaching? In M. Khine (Ed.), Robotics in STEM education (pp. 103–129). Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57786-9_5.
Bhowmik, M. K. (2017). Dropping out: Why students drop out and what can be done about it. Educational Review, 70(4), 527. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2017.1336276.
Corey, S. M. (1954). Action research to improve school practices. New York: Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.37303805127.
Daniela, L. (2016). Preliminary results of the project “robotics-based learning interventions for preventing school failure and early school leaving. ICERI 9th annual international conference of education, research and innovation proceedings.https://doi.org/10.21125/iceri.2016.
Daniela, L. (2018). Smart pedagogy for technology enhanced learning. In Didactics of smart pedagogy: Smart pedagogy for technology enhanced learning (pp. 1–20). Cham: Springer. ISBN 978-3-030-01550-3.
Daniela, L., Nīmante, D., & Kraģe, G. (2014). Development of support system for decreasing social exclusion. In Teacher of the 21st century: Quality education for quality teaching (pp. 1–12). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scoolar Publishing. ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-5612-6.
Daniela, L., Strods, R., & Alimisis, D. (2017). Analysis of robotics-based learning interventions for preventing school failure and early school leaving in gender context. 9th international conference on education and new learning technologies (Edulearn17) (pp. 810–818), 3–5 July. Barcelona: Conference Proceedings Barcelona. https://doi.org/10.21125/edulearn.2017.1176.
Downes, P. (2016). Developing a framework of system change between diametric and concentric spaces for early school leaving prevention. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 48(9), 899–914. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2015.1079517.
Eguchi, A. (2014). Educational robotics for promoting 21st century skills. Journal of Automation. Mobile Robotics & Intelligent Systems, 8(1), 5–11. https://doi.org/10.14313/JAMRIS_1-2014/1.
Eurostat. (2016). Early leavers from education and training by sex. Retrieved from: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/tgm/table.do?tab=table&plugin=1&language=en&pcode=t2020_40
Fredricks, J. A., Blumenfeld, P. C., & Paris, A. H. (2004). School engagement: Potential of the concept, state of the evidence. Review of Educational Research, 74(1), 59–109. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543074001059.
Karampinis, T. (2018). Activities and experiences through RoboESL project opportunities. International Journal of Smart Education and Urban Society (IJSEUS). https://doi.org/10.4018/IJSEUS.
Karkazis, P., Balourdos, P., Pitsiakos, G., Asimakopoulos, K., Saranteas, I., Spiliou, T., & Roussou, D. (2018). “To water or not to water”. The Arduino approach for the irrigation of a field. International Journal of Smart Education and Urban Society (IJSEUS). https://doi.org/10.4018/IJSEUS.
Lund, H. H., & Marti, P. (2005). Designing manipulative technologies for children with different abilities. Artificial Life and Robotics, 9(4), 175–187. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10015-005-0351-y.
Melkevik, O., Nilsen, W., Evensen, M., et al. (2016). Internalizing disorders as risk factors for early school leaving: A systematic review. Adolescent Research Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40894-016-0024-1.
Midgley, G. (2000). Systemic intervention: Philosophy, methodology and practice. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum. 447 p.
Migdley, C., & Urdan, T. (2001). Academic self-handicapping and performance goals: A further examination. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 26(1), 61–75. https://doi.org/10.1006/ceps.2000.1041.
Moro, M., Agatolio, F., & Menegatti, E. (2018). The development of robotic enhanced curricula for the RoboESL project: Overall evaluation and expected outcomes. International Journal of Smart Education and Urban Society (IJSEUS), 9(1), 48–60. https://doi.org/10.4018/IJSEUS.
Nevala, A.M., Hawley, J., Stokes, D., Slater, K., Souto-Otero, M., Santos, R., et al. (2011). Reducing early school leaving in the EU. Retrieved from: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/etudes/join/2011
Orland-Barak, L., & Becher, A. (2011). Cycles of action through systems of activity: Examining an action research model through the lens of activity theory. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 18(2), 115–128. https://doi.org/10.1080/10749039.2010.484099.
Papert, S. (1980). Mindstorms: Children, computers, and powerful ideas. New York: Basic Books.
Samra, H. E., Alice, S. L., Ben, S., & Mohammed, A. A. (2017). A cloud-based architecture for interactive e-training. International Journal of Knowledge Society Research, 8(1), 67–78. https://doi.org/10.4018/IJKSR.2017010104.
Tweddle, L. K. (2008). Reinventing papert’s constructionism – Boosting young children’s writing skills with e-learning designed for dyslexics. The Electronic Journal of e-Learning, 6(3), 227–234. ISSN: EISSN-1479-4403.
United Nations Development Programme. (2015). Sustainable development goals. Retrieved from: http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals.html. Accessed 26 June 2018.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Daniela, L., Strods, R. (2019). Educational Robotics for Reducing Early School Leaving from the Perspective of Sustainable Education. In: Daniela, L. (eds) Smart Learning with Educational Robotics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19913-5_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19913-5_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-19912-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-19913-5
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)