Teacher Training in Educational Robotics: participants’ learning and perceptions

Identifier:  TDX:3219

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX3219

Authors:  Schina, Despoina

Abstract:
Teachers are not always capable of integrating educational robotics (ER) into their teaching as they do not often receive training in this area as part of their university degrees. This study places teacher education in ER and teacher perceptions of ER at the center of educational research as they are influencing the integration of ER into the school curriculum. The thesis uses an exploratory sequential mixed method design. It starts by examining ER in terms of teacher perceptions, its potential and integration into the curriculum, continues with a review of the literature on international teacher training programs and concludes by launching two training programs for preservice teachers and studying their perceptions of ER and the learning that has taken place. The findings of the study of teacher perceptions suggest that teachers have a positive view of student learning with ER and are in favor of it being integrated into school curricula even at early educational stages. The duration and requirements of current ER teacher training programs differ substantially, while the best practices are regarded to be collaboration, materials design, instruction in pedagogy, opportunities for practice, and feedback/support. The pilot ER training program enabled the trainees to integrate ER in educational projects on sustainable development in a variety of disciplines. The results of the main teacher training program showed that ER had a positive impact on participants’ learning and opinions: i) participants integrated ER into a variety of educational projects in the area of natural sciences, ii) their acceptance of and self-efficacy towards ER improved after the program iii) they had positive views of the potential of ER, considered teacher training in ER to be useful for their teaching career and made suggestions for improving the training program such as additional training sessions/resources and time for experimentation.