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AUTHOR
Domenico Guastella
showing 4 related works from this author
Teaching Physics Concepts Using Educational Robotics
2019
This paper reports a study included in the national project PROMISE funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research. It examines the application of an educational robotics laboratory with secondary school students for learning concept about physics. In the paper we describe the didactic strategies that have been implemented during the activities and we give some qualitative outcomes related to effectiveness of the laboratory. Indeed we observed interesting results in students both in term of learning and of interest and participation. The importance of teacher involvement in this type of intervention will also be discussed.
A Playful Experiential Learning System With Educational Robotics
2020
This article reports on two studies that aimed to evaluate the effective impact of educational robotics in learning concepts related to Physics and Geography. The reported studies involved two courses from an upper secondary school and two courses from a lower secondary school. Upper secondary school classes studied topics of motion physics, and lower secondary school classes explored issues related to geography. In each grade, there was an “experimental group” that carried out their study using robotics and cooperative learning and a “control group” that studied the same concepts without robots. Students in both classes were subjected to tests before and after the robotics laboratory, to c…
The Robotic Construction Kit as a Tool for Cognitive Stimulation in Children and Adolescents: The RE4BES Protocol
2019
Through numerous experiences, the robotics has been demonstrated to have good potential in the field of strengthening social skills in children with Special Educational Needs and in particular with autism spectrum disorder. There are still not many experimental studies on the cognitive enhancement and social skills of children with special needs conducted with robotics construction kits that, requiring both the construction of the robot body and the programming of its “mind“, bring into play a multiplicity of cognitive and social skills. For the aforementioned reasons our team from the University of Palermo and from the Center MetaIntelligenze ONLUS developed the treatment protocol RE4BES, …
Robotics Construction Kits: From “Objects to Think with” to “Objects to Think and to Emote with”
2018
This paper discusses new ideas about the use of educational robotics in social-emotional learning. In particular, educational robotics could be a tool intended to allow children to acquire some of the basic aspects of human emotions and emotional functioning, and to understand how these relate to the mind and body. More specifically, by using robots such as the LEGO Mindstorm construction kits—which allow users to both construct the body of the robot and to provide it with a behavioural repertory—children have the opportunity to visualize (and manipulate) the relationship between the robot’s body and mind. This allows them to simulate “embodied emotional minds” and to reflect on new neurosc…