Analysis of Robotics-Based Learning Interventions for Preventing School Failure and Early School Leaving in Gender Context

Abstract

Early school leaving (ESL) has become a problem plaguing many different countries around the world and several different solutions are being searched for. Gender, as a factor in early school leaving, has become a popular research topic among many researchers and has been displayed by recent OECD results that have shown that boys are dropping out of the education system more. Researchers are still debating whether or not the processes in school are inadequate for boys and so they're excluded out of the education system, the learning process is mostly organized according to the needs of the girls, not taking into account the boys' learning needs, and how the boys organize information and how do they find it easier to learn etc., or whether they are factors that are outside the school environment, which makes them leave the education system early. For example, the lack of support from parents, the desire to become independent and a desire for success, which they are unable to experience in school, a problem that is also related to motivation problems. The idea behind the Erasmus+ project "Robotics-based learning interventions for preventing school failure and Early School Leaving" is to use robotics learning strategies to lessen the risks of early education leaving. Students from partnering schools in Greece, Italy and Latvia were chosen to participate in the project activities according to certain early school leaving criteria. Out of 101 students 77 were male and 24 were female students, making it clear already at this stage of the project that boys are more subject to risks of early school leaving, even in the partnering schools. The robotics activities were organized for everyone equally regardless of their gender. The main objective was to spark the students' interest in the learning process, promote their problem-solving skills, promote their motivation and lessen the risks that they face every day in schools. The robotics activities were aimed at students' getting actively involved in programming, testing their knowledge and constructing new knowledge. At the same time, mutual cooperation among the students was promoted, because they had to work in groups with one robotics set, thus promoting the ability to communicate, support each other, discuss the knowledge to be acquired and solve problems. Regardless of the fact that everyone involved enjoyed participating in the activities, more positive feedback was received from the girls involved in the project. The aim of this paper is to analyse-are there gender based differences in how robotics-based learning activities tackle risks of ESL.

Educational Robotics for Inclusive Education

“…It is not a new concept for education, although educational robotics (ER) is mostly associated with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in developing the understanding of mathematical concepts and principles of physics (Williams et al 2007), engineering (Ariza et al 2017;Zaldivar et al 2013), and other branches of STEM (Witherspoon et al 2018;Eck et al 2014) and in developing multiskills and knowledge in different levels of education from preschool to higher education. Lately, new research directions have been developed where it is proved that ER has such positive side effects as improved learning motivation (Daniela andStrods 2016, 2018;Daniela et al 2017;Alimisis 2014), improved interest in learning itself, possibilities of using ER with special needs students to involve them in active learning processes, overcoming the gender gap in STEM education, and other factors that can lead to risks of social marginalization and then to risks of early school leaving.…”

Searching for Pedagogical Answers to Support STEM Learning: Gender Perspective

“…The results of the survey show that students wish to understand STEM subjects and they would like teachers to help resonate with the motivational development idea of the important role of self-efficacy [33,34] because it confirms that it is important for students with low learning achievements to feel they are succeeding, but this is not so important when students are already aware of the impact of their learning activities on learning achievements. The fact that this factor is significant for the group of high-achieving girls echoes the findings expressed by other researchers [35,36] regarding girls feeling more insecure about their academic achievements, so it is important for them to feel they are succeeding.…”

Μαθητική Διαρροή, Κοινωνικός Αποκλεισμός Και Επανεκπαίδευση

“…πγθεθξηκέλα ε πεξηθέξεηα ηεο Θξάθεο είλαη ε κνλαδηθή φπνπ ην πνζνζηφ ΜΑ ζηα θνξίηζηα (22,5%) είλαη κεγαιχηεξν απφ ηα αγφξηα (21,5%) γηα ην 2013. Δ θαηάζηαζε απηή νθείιεηαη ζε πνιιαπινχο αίηηα φπσο θνηλσληθά, γεσγξαθηθά, πνιηηηζκηθά θαη πνιηηηθά, θαη εηδηθφηεξα ζηελ παξαδνζηαθή θνηλσληθή νξγάλσζε, ζηε γεσγξαθηθή απνκφλσζε, ζηνλ αγξνηηθφ ραξαθηήξα ηνπ κεηνλνηηθνχ πιεζπζκνχ θαη ησλ πεξηνξηζκψλ θαη απαγνξεχζεσλ γηα ηε γπλαίθα πνπ εθπνξεχνληαη απφ ηε κνπζνπικαληθή ζξεζθεία (Ώζθνχλε, 2006: 143-144, 246-250 (Daniela, Strods, & Alimisis, 2017). Ώπηφ επηηπγράλεηαη θαζψο δίλεη ηε δπλαηφηεηα ζχλζεζεο κία επέιηθηεο θαη ελδηαθέξνπζαο καζεζηαθήο δηαδηθαζίαο κέζσ ησλ λέσλ ηερλνινγηψλ θαη ηεο πξαθηηθήο εθαξκνγήο ηεο γλψζεο.…”