The gap between teaching five year olds the basics of coding and the skills and knowledge needed for basic entry level VET is too large. In order to begin bridging the gap this project aims to establish an educational policy document, progressive series of curricular developments, course plans and teacher training courses for mathematics, science and technology teachers at Primary, Lower Secondary and Upper Secondary level within the are of Robotics in Schools. The gap between industry needs and an available skilled work-force is getting larger. Several studies throughout Europe point out that the engineering fields are not the first choice of young people, however the engineering skills and ICT field itself are defined as one of the key knowledge of economic growth. The area of robotics, informatics and mechatronics is quickly moving from a specialized within engineering and science to a situation where it is fully integrated within society. The situation could be compared with the area of ICT and Internet approximately 10 to 15 years ago. Estonia is a good example: "Given the country’s tiny domestic market, start-ups have been forced to think global, says Taavet Hinrikus, Skype’s first employee and co-founder of TransferWise, a peer-to-peer money-transfer service. Over 14,000 new companies registered in Estonia in 2011 (World Bank), 40% more than in 2008. High-tech industries account for about 15% of GDP. Education is important, too: in 2012, a programme called ProgeTiiger (“Programming Tiger”) was announced, to teach five-year-olds the basics of coding. “In the 80s every boy in high-school wanted to be a rock star,” says Mr Hinrikus. “Now everybody in high-school wants to be an entrepreneur." 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. Cost is not the barrier that it would be if, for example, trying to introduce computers to all students, as cheaper hardware solutions become available. Some examples of this are the Raspberry Pi,Arduino platform, Makey Makey and Ushahidi that can be purchased quite cheaply and used to control many external devices, and adapted for different ages and abilities As Robotics moves into general everyday use in society the need for a more general understanding of its component parts increases at all levels of Education: 'The internet of everything' - Essentially the idea that soon all items will be connected to the internet is on our thresholds. In order to bridge the gap between learner, teacher and curriculum planners the projects objectives are to create: 1. A policy document on requirements at local/regional school authorities, teacher training institutions etc. for Robotics in Education. A policy document for transfer implementation and innovation will be developed to allow authorities to make the relevant changes needed in order to implement the proposed methodologies and practices. 2. Research report to identify how teaching “basic programming, how computers work and robotics” has/will influence the school curriculum taught at different levels from primary to upper secondary. Initial desk research will be followed by scenarios being tested in primary to secondary schools. The outcome of this research is to propose a) training framework and b) further advances in the relevant educational theories. 3. Research report on Good Practices into successful pedagogies teaching robotics as part of a blended learning approach for training 4. Cross-sector cooperation between schools and other organisations leading to i.e. curriculum development, reinforcing basic skills, (in our case defining basic ICT skills for teacher and learners). 5. An ongoing/rolling curriculum or course plan for school/institutional level from primary to upper secondary with specific exercises for teacher / pupils including: 1. A series of practical lesson plans using robotics in schools as part of blended learning activities.. 2. A didactical kit supporting the on-line material, containing instructions and printable resources. 6. A training course for teachers on Robotics in Schools. Developing the training module for teachers and running pilot trainings in Sweden, UK, Finland and Estonia 7. An eLearning course about creating and implementing Robotics education, offering advice on Robotic kit packages to the schools that they can easily start the robotic courses on different robotic platforms (Robotic HomeLab, Lego EV, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, etc.) 8. A project website translated into partner languages.
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.