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Robotics for Primary Schools in the 21st Century
Start date: Sep 1, 2015, End date: Aug 31, 2018 PROJECT  FINISHED 

21st Century IT Teaching for Primary Schools is a collaborative project involving a range of partners with distinctive expertise in primary and adult education, teaching and learning, robotics and information communication technology (ITC). The overarching theme is the development and dissemination of a common pedagogy based on the rapidly changing developments and requirements for ICT including computer programming and robotics. In response to developing economic and social needs of countries across the EU, elements of computer science have entered primary school programmes of work. These new curricula aim to provide a high quality education in the burgeoning field of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), empowering pupils to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world. Engagement with this new discipline ensures that pupils become digitally literate, i.e. able to use and express themselves and extend their ideas through ICT, to become competent for their future workplaces and as active participants in the digital world. Although in the near future, we can expect the first ‘digitally native’ teachers, the present situation is that there is a discernible gap in confidence and competence between current teachers and their pupils. This has created a challenge for the professional development of teachers and so the overarching aim of this project is to provide some resolution to issues of curriculum implementation in the fields of information technology in general and robotics and programming more specifically. The project aims to support current teachers and influence the content of initial teacher education, whilst at the same time making positive impact upon the developing interests and skills of pupils within the primary age range of 4 -11/12 years. These skills are based upon the ‘4Cs’: Collaboration, Communication, Creativity and Critical thinking. We aim to provide evidence for effective: • development of 20th Century teachers’ professional knowledge for preparation and delivery of 21st Century skills in learning and ICT for pupils; • coverage of new elements of ICT curricular content in computer programming and robotics; • provision of new subject and pedagogic knowledge to support the use of robotics and programming in the primary age range; • enhancement of programmes of study to produce age-relevant resources, schemes of work and skills progression; • exploration of ways of combining and generating creativity with logic; • understanding from pupils’ viewpoints of the purpose of learning these new skills; • development of both independence and cooperative learning and teamwork: the 4Cs. OBJECTIVES: 1. To develop and enhance primary school teachers’ skills and understanding within the emerging field of robotics and programming. 2. To enable primary school pupils to use and apply their acquired skills to become responsible, confident and creative users of ICT. 3. To create appropriate pedagogy and detailed schemes of work, including continuity and progression for development of specific skills. 4. To develop effective partnerships with the 'world of work' to contextualize the pedagogy/learning. 5. To utilise and enhance the relevant European Key Competencies associated with this project e.g. Digital Competence, Learning to Learn, Communication in mother language and that of another country and to introduce the concept of entrepreneurialism. 6. To explore and elaborate the cooperative, transnational nature of the project to develop the European dimension across all the participating schools, their pupils, parents and staff. 7. To provide evidence for the impact of the outcomes of the project through dissemination to the teaching profession, school parents/carers and governors, educational administrators and policy-makers across the participating countries and beyond. Number and profile of participants: There are 10 participant partners from a range of primary schools and adult education establishments from the UK, Spain, Denmark Lithtunais and Malta. Description of activities: Experiences and activities will offer different models of expression that will be disseminated through multiplier events and through models of good practice to be adapted to the needs of individual participants. Activities will include an exchange of good practice, curricula ideas and professional dialogue including the use of digital technologies. Methodology: The project will use a blended approach to generating and developing best practice including case studies, action research, face to face meetings, training events and transnational project meetings. Results and long term benefits: In addition to MEs and IPs, partnerships will be developed and strengthened with participant schools and adult education establishments, and multi-relational cooperation, there will be an open training course to continue the partnership and develop and update resources & innovation.
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