HR4RS stamp
Raul Garcia Hemonnet
The eMadrid awards recognize work related to educational technology research or development. The URJC has won the first prize in all three categories.
Jesús Moreno, a doctoral student at the URJC, has won first prize in its category thanks to his doctoral thesis 'Development of computational thinking skills in schools through computer programming with Scratch'.
His work, he explains, "studies the development of computational thinking at school through computer programming activities. From very different fields it is considered that computational thinking -which is the ability to solve problems and communicate ideas taking advantage of the power of computers - is one of the key skills for life in the XNUMXst century. The conclusions of my thesis are being used by educational administrations to incorporate computational thinking into study plans, both in Spain and internationally".
For this URJC graduate, whose thesis has been supervised by ETSIT professor Gregorio Robles, he is "particularly excited about this award, since all the public universities of Madrid participate in the eMadrid network, in addition to the UNED, and there are groups powerful research organizations that carry out work with a great international impact in relation to educational technology. That my thesis is considered the best this year is certainly a source of pride", he affirms.
Currently, Jesús Moreno works at the National Institute of Educational Technology and Teacher Training, an agency of the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training. "There he directs the area of Experimentation in the classroom. My work involves the development of research in classrooms in our country to offer evidence that assists the Ministry itself and the Autonomous Communities in making decisions in the educational field."
For her part, the URJC graduate and researcher, Emy Quintanar, has won the first prize for the Master's Thesis (TFM) for her research 'Programming tools for training executive functions in the TEA classroom and in the ordinary classroom as resources for the inclusive school'.
For Quintanar, the award is "a recognition of the many hours of work and daily effort." The project for which Emy Quintanar has won the eMadrid 2019 award for the best TFM consists of "an educational programming application for children that incorporates novelties to those existing in other programs, which allow a better adaptation to boys and girls with ASD" .
The application incorporates the possibility of pictographing orders, a more intuitive start, that the statements of the problems are permanently on the screen, etc. But all these adaptations, explains Emy Quintanar "do not reduce the usability of the application, they simply make it more accessible for these children."
This initiative is included in the 'Bluethinking' project through which a team from the URJC develops 'Digital solutions for autism', with the support of the Orange Foundation.
The winner of the award for the best TFG is also from the URJC. María Zapata is a professor at the ETSII and the winning work is entitled: "Development of a game prototype to teach programming to children: Botuned".
The project, explains this teacher, "consists of a video game for the introduction to computer programming through the development of an environment in which primary school children make their first programs and can execute them while playing."
María Zapata, who is "very satisfied with the recognition of so much work", is currently doing a doctorate in information and communication technologies at the URJC, specifically in the field of educational computing, "with which I intend to expand my research on
this topic and carry out various experiences to evaluate this type of educational methodology”, has indicated
Photo Jesus Moreno: Javier Marquez.