Employing Robotics in Education to Enhance Cognitive Development—A Pilot Study

Csilla Kálózi-Szabó (), Katalin Mohai and Milvia Cottini
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Csilla Kálózi-Szabó: Institute for the Psychology of Special Needs, Bárczi Gusztáv Faculty of Special Needs Education, Eötvös Loránd University, Ecseri út 3, 1097 Budapest, Hungary
Katalin Mohai: Institute for the Psychology of Special Needs, Bárczi Gusztáv Faculty of Special Needs Education, Eötvös Loránd University, Ecseri út 3, 1097 Budapest, Hungary
Milvia Cottini: Faculty of Education, Free University of Bolzano-Bozen, Regensburger Allee 16, 39042 Bressanone-Brixen, Italy

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 23, 1-12

Abstract: (1) Background: Info-communication technology (ICT) offers opportunities for innovations in teaching and learning methods, bringing significant changes in the world of pedagogy. The field called educational robotics is both a motivational basis for teaching and learning coding and programming, and a tool for linking STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields. Moreover, it might contribute to the development of cognitive and social skills. The aim of the present paper is to report on a pilot study at the intersection of neurodiversity and educational robotics. (2) Methods: The pilot study was part of a larger project, namely Robotics for the Inclusive Development of Atypical and Typical Children (RIDE). A pre-test/post-test design was used to examine the development of different cognitive processes in sixth-grade students, such as computational thinking (CT), spatial relations, visuo-constructive ability, attention, and reading ability, in relation to a robotics development program employed in the classroom. (3) Results: The results suggest a general improvement on nearly all measures. Specifically, participants’ performance improved significantly from pre-test to post-test in the visuo-constructive abilities test, they made significantly fewer reading errors, and improved substantially in their reading comprehension. (4) Conclusions: The RIDE project’s curriculum development has resulted in a highly innovative, sustainable, and inclusive package of pedagogical methods, and the pilot research shows promising results regarding the implementation of robotics in education.

Keywords: robotics; cognition; education; computational thinking; spatial relations; visuo-constructive ability; attention; reading ability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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