Abstract:

Technological fields, like engineering, are in desperate need of more qualified workers, yet not enough students are pursuing studies in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) that would prepare them for technical careers. Unfortunately, many students have no interest in STEM careers, particularly engineering, because they are not exposed to topics in these fields during their K-12 studies. Most K-12 teachers have not been trained to integrate relevant STEM topics into their classroom teaching and curriculum materials.

The economic development and technological inventions have led to the present situation of robots being the present society’s component, with an enormous potential in the educational system. Robotics encompasses the diverse areas of technology, computer science, engineering, and the sciences. Because of its multidisciplinary nature, using robotics in the classroom can be a valuable tool to increase student motivation and learning. Educational robotics is a learning environment in which the people involved are motivated by the design and construction of creations (object that has characteristics similar to those of human or animal life). They will learn with technology and accomplish cognitive tasks beyond their reach.

The use of robots for supporting primary education up to graduation at university has become, in the recent years, an interesting field for researchers in the education science all over the world. Robots have become a popular educational tool in some middle and high schools in USA, Japan and Europe, as well as in numerous youth summer camps, raising interest in programming, artificial intelligence and robotics among students. Due to the youth’s preference shown towards technology, robots have been validated by researchers in the field of education as useful tools in STEM Education. Cognitive research has confirmed that students learn more if they are involved in their study and interact with the educational material (study, experiment, test). The advantage of the new robotics technology is found in the potential of interaction with the system and creation of changes within its settings. Statistics reports show that robots could help pupils to acquire mathematical, language and team problem solving abilities. Moreover, studies show that the registered progress of autistic children or with learning difficulties (dyslexia is the most common learning disability) are significant if robots are used in the teaching-learning-evaluation triad.

This paper aims to explore the possibility of using robots as an efficient training-educational tool for teaching technical subjects - Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education (STEM Education) – education of dyslexics children. It analyses the available solutions at the present moment which refer to the robots used in education. Characteristics, costs, strengths and weaknesses of some available solutions was compared and evaluated to introduce a guideline for an efficient method to support learning using educational robot. The advantage of “robotic revolution” is found in the potential of interaction with the system and creation of changes within its parametres. Development of educational robots is still in its early stages. To complete our understanding of educational robots, we should explore potential benefits of using robots for education, optimal design of them and any limits and challenges that must be addressed.

Keywords:

STEM Education, Educational Robots, Dyslexia.