A national meeting on Educational Robotics will be held in Rovereto on April 28 to develop training and dissemination activities via a roundtable between the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research and Educational Robotics networks. Francesca Del Duca will be participating on behalf of the Fondazione Mondo Digitale.
The national and international scientific community is well aware that “the results obtained in the teaching of science are extremely unsatisfactory and we are wasting the intelligence of many young men and women.” The main critical points in this field concern the way in which science is taught, the prevalence of notion and book-based education, rather than through experiences and problems.
“In this context, event the PISA 2006 Survey highlights, among other aspects, a troublesome fact: the analysis of the results obtained by Italian students reveals the difficulties they encounter in open answer questions that require argumentation, confrontation and discussion of data and opinions. It is evident, therefore, that we urgently need to make methodological and didactic choices that can overcome these issues.”
This requires the implementation of didactic and methodological options that will allow students to become protagonists capable of developing their own learning through research, confrontation with peers, shared re-elaboration and reflection on discipline and work methods.
Educational Robotics entails the step-by-step development of “intelligent machines,” from design to construction, through errors and frustration, but pursuing the objective of problem solving. It calls for students to work in groups, while the teacher acts as a guide. The active involvement of students promotes the assumption of both individual and group and catlyses their motivation to learn. The teacher’s role is to make sure that everyone manages to make the most of their skills, rather than only evaluating knowledge.
ProgrammaProgramme
10.00 – 10.30 am
Welcome
10.30 – 12.00 am
Introduction to teaching activities and event organisation
(10 minutes)
12.00 – 12.45 am
Discussion: How can Italian Educational Robotics Networks collaborate?
1.00 – 2.00 pm
Lunch
2.15 – 3.15 pm
Group work
3.30 -4.30 pm
Results of Work groups and Conclusions
Objectives: draft a network protocol for common educational activities and dissemination
Work methodology: communication, discussion and group work
Tasks: draft an agreement for the development of educational and promotional activities
Group work: MIUR and National Educational Robotics Network Managers
