Learning science and technology through robotics
ER4STEM (October 2015–September 2018) used hands-on robotics to engage young people with science, technology, engineering and mathematics. ESI’s activities in Bulgaria reached more than 1,000 students aged 7–15 through workshops delivered in 2016–2018.
Official project information →Contact ESILearning by making
Connect programming, engineering and scientific ideas through tangible robot projects.
Creative teamwork
Develop problem-solving, collaboration and creativity alongside technical skills.
European research
A completed Horizon 2020 project coordinated by TU Wien, with ESI as a partner.
Project background and further details
Educational Robotics For Science, Technology, Engineering And Mathematics ER4STEM
Implementation period: 2015-2018
The domain of robotics is a multi-disciplinary and highly innovative field encompassing engineering, design as well as social sciences, such as psychology. As a consequence, it does not only cover mechanical, electronic and computer engineering, as might it be commonly perceived, but it also involves other fields such as mathematics, physics, biology, art and philosophy (e.g. studying existential aspects of building intelligent robots). Therefore, robotics has been suggested as a field of powerful potential in education and with high expectancy to impact teaching from kindergarten to university. However, its real impact has not been formally determined and guidelines have been provided to designers of workshops and lessons to combine different features, crucial for the success of any activity in educational settings. Moreover, recognized weaknesses of the current educational robotics approaches could hinder the impact of robotics in education.
ER4STEM project aims to encourage this curiosity of the children, showing them one really exciting hands-on application of science – robotics. We think that inspiration from the scientific disciplines, especially in younger children, could be encouraged very successfully with a project-oriented approach, which aims to teach theoretical concepts from science, technology, engineering and mathematics through their practical application.
Within the period between the months of February 2016 and May 2018 ESI CEE organized free educational robotics workshops with more than 1000 Bulgarian students from several general education schools in Bulgaria. We used Arduino microcontrollers and visual programming languages to teach children between the ages of 7 and 15 the basic concepts of robotics and programming by building a robot-tank. The workshop also includes a creativity seminar based on the mind-mapping concept of Tony Buzan, which aims to encourage the children to discover additional practical applications of robotics in various fields of science and in everyday life. We also developed and applied educational robotics workshops for visualizing basic mathematical concepts, stipulated in the Bulgarian national curriculum for mathematics for the 4th grade.
Official project resources: ER4STEM at ESI Robotics.
Funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme · Grant agreement 665972.
Project context: ER4STEM official source.
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