The “Hands on Science” course on robotics is directly
linked to a Comenius network dedicated to science
education. Highly experienced trainers provide
school teachers from primary, secondary and
vocational schools with the teaching and technical
tools they need to teach robotics successfully.
Educational research has shown the many advantages of
hands-on science programmes. Piaget’s – and Papert’s
later research on constructivism – clearly mandate that
the learning environment be rich in physical experiences.
Involvement is the key to intellectual development and, for
the elementary school child, this includes direct physical
interaction with objects. This course has been delivered
several times and continuously demonstrates the benefi ts
of hands-on experimentation. It helps increase the effi -
cacy of science and technology classes while improving
essential skills such as autonomy, responsibility, critical
reasoning, organisation, commitment, motivation, selfpraise
and social interaction.
Course-related documentation is very complete and
allows participants to quickly engage in discussions about
hands-on experiments as well as constructivist teaching
and learning approaches. Primary and secondary school
teachers are identifi ed as diff erent target groups and the
methods are adapted accordingly. The course culminates
in a robotics festival where pupils present their robots.
Their creations compete in a variety of challenges.
This course adds three extra dimensions to science
education. It brings together groups of teachers from
diff erent European countries to focus and experiment
with experts who speak the same scientifi c language
despite their own native languages. It also injects fun
into the learning process. It is often forgotten that science
can be – and actually is – fun. Robotics makes learning
attractive because it achieves concrete tangible results
and adds movement to those results. And, fi nally, handson
robotics is one of the best ways to strengthen the
link between school and work, developing major skills
that are necessary for pupils to succeed in their professional
careers. The hands-on training course successfully
combines transversal and key curricular skills within a
very attractive and motivating framework.
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