Robotics for Schools Erasmus Project

Project Title

Robotics for Schools

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships addressing more than one field

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

Robotics for Schools (RFS) is a project that is aimed for filling the gap between teaching five-year-olds the basics of coding and the skills and knowledge needed for basic entry level VET. Mistakes made in general education throughout the EU over the last decade within ICT should not be repeated. Many studies have shown that throughout the “Internet era” the focus on ICT has moved from “how things work” almost exclusively to “how to use” technology. The latter “how to use” is now recognized as a redundant educational concept as all students simply learn and use ICT as a part of everyday life. The call from many governments is for education to move back to an understanding of how things work.

RFS team approached the topic systematically by setting following objectives:

• establish an educational policy document;
• conduct progressive series of curricula developments;
• develop course plans and teacher training courses for mathematics, science and technology;
• target teachers at primary, lower secondary and upper secondary level within the area of Robotics in Schools.

RFS team consists of six different partners from Estonia, Finland, Sweden and UK:

NPO Robootika – Estonia – project manager

NPO Robootika has been developing educational robotics in Estonia since 2008. The target of activities is to address as many pupils in schools as possible to introduce them the possibilities of robotics. Interested kids will develop their dexterity, engineering, problem solving, teamwork and modelling skills. Due to the work done in educational robotics in Estonia, over 50 % of the schools in Estonia have joined the project.

ITT Group – Estonia

ITT Group is a modern company focused on mechatronics design and e-solutions. The target market is primarily Estonia and Scandinavian countries but also Germany. One of the characteristics is keeping an open mind for new ideas and therefore we have been participating different European projects. As all board members hold a university degree the company is very tightly related with education.

Elderberry AB – Sweden

Elderberry AB undertakes curriculum development and strategic studies, authoring, testing, editing and publishing within school, youth, adult, teacher and VET education, often with socio-cultural and urban implications. The company is experienced with traditional methods for educational material as with e-learning and e-culture. Elderberry has also a vast experience as a partner and coordinator of EU projects.

University of Turku – Finland

It is Finland’s second largest, an internationally competitive research-led university whose operation is based on high-level multidisciplinary research. The university is recognised for the quality of teaching, research and excellent support services.

GRYD LTD – UK

Gryd provides training, technology research and development of advanced e-learning. Being a relatively new organisation (October 2012), it draws on the experience of its director, Pete Stevens.

Engelbrektsskolan – Sweden

Engelbrektsskolan is a popular primary and secondary school located in the city centre of Stockholm. The school is located close to museums, cultural sites and nature. In grades 4-9 the pupils can choose between different” profiles”, including Maths and Science. The profile organizes programming with robots (BeeBot, LEGO and Scratch).

The main result of the project is learning material to teach robotics to students from elementary to high school. They are called Roboquests – online based tutorials for learners and teachers with narrative stories to make students interested in the topics of robotics. Roboquests are platform independent which means they can be used with any robotics platform that has the basic “sensor-controller-actuator” functionality.
Roboquests are all in English and selected ones in Estonian, Swedish and Finnish
.
Within RFS, following publications were developed:
• “Creating and Implementing Robotics for Schools” – this document introduces different methodologies, including practical guidance, on creating a range of activities and ideas for implementing Robotics for Schools in a teaching or training situation.
• Good Practice – this report shares good practices and successful pedagogies for robotics education from different European countries with particular focus on Estonia, Finland, Sweden and United Kingdom.
• Project website is a base for all results and the most important – Roboquests, which includes all necessary materials for teachers such as lesson plans and solutions.

A long-term benefit of Roboquest is that it gives a possibility to create more materials in the future for other educational parties. Roboquests follow the idea of inquiry and narrative learning. The environment allows teachers to create their own Roboquests and share them with others.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 240509 Eur

Project Coordinator

NPO Robootika & Country: EE

Project Partners

• TURUN YLIOPISTO
• Kinda Kommun
• ITT Group
• GRYD LTD
• ELDERBERRY AB
• Engelbrektskolan