RoboScientists project aims to inspire secondary school students in making STEM fields a career choice by introducing them in robotic artefacts creation. The students will be encouraged to construct their own robotic artefacts exploring at the same time the underpinning subject topics (i.e. mechanics, electronics, programming) and the underlying concepts of physics and other STEM related disciplines. To scaffold their “educational adventures” a set of project scenarios, tools, videos and technical tutorials will be designed. The project focuses also on teachers’ professional development in STEM teaching and supports them in updating their teaching skills and designing, engaging and making interesting learning experiences for their students by using different technologies for robotic artefact creation. An innovative aspect of the project is that (unlike to mainstream classroom practices), the students are not encouraged to work with pre-fabricated robots but to construct their own robotic artefacts using a set of available, low cost tools and technologies (such as Arduino, Raspberry Pi, servos, sensors, etc). While they are working on their robotic artefacts, they are exploring the underpinning abstract and/or complex STEM concepts and transform them into tangible learning experiences. In other words, robotic artefact construction is used as a vehicle for experimentation and sense making. Another innovative aspect of the project is the embracement of the idea of the STEM Clubs. This concept is very popular in the UK and the United States of America but still not very popular in secondary schools in European countries. Instead of simply promoting this concept, the project aims at training teachers on how to establish STEM Clubs and challenge students’ active participation. The establishment of the STEM Clubs will allow more students to be involved in the RoboScientists initiative and they will act as a way to further motivate next generations of young students in STEM disciplines and extend young people's learning. This is a strong aspect in this project that can guarantee sustainability of project outcomes. The projects that will be developed can be practiced in STEM clubs. They will set a starting line whereupon new projects for robotic artefacts may be designed and developed based on the registered students' interests. We envision STEM Clubs as places where new ideas are generated, STEM is creatively practiced and people from different disciplines but with interest in STEM can meet-up and join their forces. Robotic artefact development, STEM Clubs establishment and exposure in authentic cases studies from the world of business can set a basis whereupon the start-up culture, entrepreneurial and DIY spirit can be spread among the students transforming the process of making and searching for knowledge. The RoboScientists project will develop: 1) The technical tutorials - the selected technologies/tools are presented in an easy to grasp way. 2) The projects for robotic artefact creation and OERs for students - project scenarios, worksheets and videos. 3) The teacher training curriculum that includes the pedagogical framework, OERs for teachers, the training methodology and scheme that will be followed and details on how to introduce the RoboScientists learning intervention in the class. 4) The guidelines for STEM clubs establishment and operation in educational settings /Documentation of experiences from successful good practices/initiatives. 5) An online class that will support teachers’ training in the RoboScientists learning intervention 6) A validation report that will present evaluation results from the 2 pilot rounds and experiences from the STEM Clubs. The project brings together 9 organizations from 4 countries: Warsaw University of Technology (Poland), Edumotiva -European Lab for Educational Technology (Greece), University of Latvia (Latvia), Frederick University (Cyprus), ENGINO.NET LTD (Cyprus) and secondary schools from Poland Greece and Latvia represented by XXXILO, ZSP2 (Poland), 1st EPAL of Korydallos (Greece) and Education, Culture and Sports Departament of Riga City (Latvia). All these organizations form an international team of experts and educational practitioners that complement each other towards propelling STEM education, enhancing teachers’ professional roles, helping school students through innovative and creative hands-on activities that are interlinked to real life and scientific practices to develop positive attitudes towards STEM subjects and to acquire the skills needed in the European job market of the 21st century.
RoboScientists project aims to inspire secondary school students in making STEM fields a career choice, by introducing them in robotic artefacts' creation. The students were encouraged to construct their own robotic artefacts, exploring at the same time the underpinning subject topics (i.e. mechanics, electronics, programming) and the underlying concepts of physics and other STEM related disciplines. To scaffold their “educational adventures” a set of project scenarios, videos, supporting materials and technical tutorials were designed. The project focused also on teachers’ professional development in STEM teaching and supported them in updating their teaching skills and designing engaging and interesting learning experiences for their students by using different technologies for robotic artefact creation. Another innovative aspect of the project was the embodiment of the idea of the STEM Clubs. This concept is very popular in the UK and the United States of America but still not very popular in secondary schools in European countries. Instead of simply promoting this concept, the project aimed at training teachers on how to establish STEM Clubs and challenge students’ active participation. This project aimed at engaging school students (13-18 years old) which demonstrate low interest in STEM and keep distance to STEM related disciplines. In creative ways, by developing the robotics technology it is following the Maker Movement trend in education (Schon, 2015), a global trend that encourages young people to be creative with technology. The objectives of the project were: -Motivation of school students to develop their knowledge and practical skills in STEM related disciplines (like electronics, mechanics, programming) which are sought on European labour markets. - Encourage student involvement in physics and other STEM disciplines by providing them links for practical use and creative applications. - Offering teachers the opportunity to update their teaching practices and allowing them to become better qualified in motivating students' engagement in STEM related subjects. - Offering teachers the opportunity to update their technical skills through the introduction to robotics technology and preparing open source software for robot control. - Encouraging secondary school students (13-18 years old) to continue their studies in STEM at tertiary level education and to possibly pursue a career in this field. - Encouraging equal opportunities in STEM education for boys and girls. The 150 students from partner countries (Poland, Greece and Latvia) and 19 teachers participated in the project. During the realization of the project, following activities were carried out: * The educational materials for teachers were prepared to support them during realization of robotic lessons at schools and to help them to update their technical skills. They consist of: 1. Technical tutorial for teachers, which provided them with the necessary theoretical and practical knowledge in the fields of electronics, mechanics, software and microcontroller programming. To make the material easier to understand, the tutorials were enriched with a number of examples using block programming language (Snap4Arduino) and text programming language (C++). 2. Guidelines for teachers for six interdisciplinary robotic projects were prepared. These guidelines consist of the pedagogical considerations and practical ways of project realizations. 3. The RoboScientists teacher training curriculum, which details the pedagogical framework of the RoboScientists project. It focuses on the pedagogical methodologies which can be practised in the classroom by the teachers and the process of introducing the projects in the class. The teacher’s guidelines help to prepare for robotics lessons, methodology as well as other practical tasks to become familiar with the proposed learning materials and the robotic construction process. 4. The RoboScientists guide for developing an in-school STEM Club was prepared to support teachers in the STEM Club establishment. The guide also includes tips on how to organize the STEM Club from a logistic and substantive side. * The prepared educational materials for students: 1. Most of the projects consist of several levels of difficulty to better match the material to the level and needs of the group of students. This solution made it possible to implement the project to a wide group of students from different countries. The projects are interdisciplinary in nature and allow students to explore various aspects/topics in STEM. The projects come along with worksheets for students and other supportive educational resources that can be used by them in order to carry out the projects (i.e. video guides, half-baked solutions, solution files). 2. The additional resources were developed to support the on-line education in the COVID-19 pandemia challenging times for hands-on and project-based practices. For this reason, resources that facilitate the crafting process were developed as well as circuit diagrams. * The three learning activities were organized (two of them stationary and one on-line) with the staff from the participating organizations and schools. The aims of these activities were to familiarize participants with the robotics technology and to teach how to introduce the robotics projects in the classroom. During the last learning activity (C3), the teachers were familiarized with the establishing STEM clubs at secondary schools. * At the end of the project, the “Robotic in education” conference was organized via MS Teams and connected with the workshop. About 240 people participated in the conference and workshops. * The three multiple events were organized in Greece (on-line), Latvia (on-line) and Cyprus (stationary) to disseminate the project outputs to academia, school community and policymakers. * The five STEM clubs were established at partner's schools. The STEM clubs are actively developed by teachers and students. Graduates of the schools, included in the project, support the work of the clubs despite starting their studies. The project had a significant impact on the partner schools. Most of them had no prior experience with robotic technology and students previously found STEM subjects boring. The project made it possible to change the approach of both students and teachers. Students noticed that knowledge from several subjects can be combined to create practical projects. The teachers found that they were able to realize practical classes and STEM clubs. Their knowledge and skills have increased significantly. Through dissemination events, conferences and articles, we interested other schools in the implementation of robotic projects.