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Thursday, December 02, 2021 at 07:15

Robots, the future of education

The URJC, together with other European universities, participates in the ambitious "STEAMupgrade" project, with the aim of implementing technological tools in school teaching.

Daria Efimova

Every year, robotics reaches more facets of our daily lives. It is in homes and offices; and it has also reached schools. Being such a novel aspect, numerous studies and projects are being carried out to see what influence robotics can have on teaching. The Rey Juan Carlos University is part of one of these investigations: STEAM Upgrade. This international project aims to improve teachers' knowledge of digital tools at different educational levels, as well as provide them with the necessary training to incorporate it into their teaching.

An international aspiration

The project was born at the end of 2020 as an initiative of the University of Tallinn (Estonia), and is expected to last 33 months. Throughout this time, the research groups involved publish different reports and carry out a series of activities and events. STEAM Upgrade It has the collaboration of four European universities: from Spain, Finland, Austria and Norway; and two private companies from Hungary. Each university specializes in one educational level. In the case of the URJC, it focuses its work on Infant teachers; while Norway and Austria focus on Primary and Secondary, respectively.

Although there has been talk for a long time about incorporating robotics into teaching, there is still time to do it in the most effective and widespread way. According to Luis Pastor Pérez, professor at the URJC in the area of ​​Computer Architecture and Technology, and one of the researchers involved in the project: "These tools are still underused, since it is not easy to go from traditional education to a with technological components. They focus, therefore, on those teachers who are in the final years of their studies, to support them in developing the digital skills of future teachers.

Common benefit for different groups

However, researchers have discovered that this project has another important application: it helps children with functional diversity to improve their learning. "We realized that students with autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder respond better and have more interest when we carry out activities that include technological educational materials," explains Luis Pastor. In order to better monitor the effect that this type of teaching can have on children with functional diversity, the researchers work closely with therapists from different associations, such as the Esfera Foundation.

According to Luis Pastor, the preliminary studies of this project are giving good results. "The influence of robots in society is growing," explains the researcher. “It is good that the children who are now in schools have training that allows them to better manage in this world of new technologies.” Just like what happened with computers a few decades ago, and machines during the Industrial Revolution, its rise is inevitable: the important thing is the focus and the benefit that society can take from it to continue advancing.