The webinar held on January 27th was dedicated to sharing experiences, practices and projects in Robotics and 3D printing education in EaP region. Enthusiastic speakers discussed the perspectives and challenges of extending STEM and Arts education with Robotics and 3D printing, and making education more attractive and meaningful at different levels: in the primary school, Vocational Education and Training institution, in secondary school and in the Higher Education context.
Fabio Nascimbeni, Human Capital Development expert at ETF has welcomed the participants of the webinar and encouraged them to get familiarized with achievement of the Community of Innovative Educators at ETF. The 2021 activities are summarized on the following page: https://openspace.etf.europa.eu/pages/community-activities-2021
According to the interactive poll held during the webinar the majority of the audience had some preliminary experience with Robotics and 3D printing.
The moderator Merab Labadze briefly presented the major trends in Robotics in Education and 3D printing advancement to informal and formal teaching.
Yuriy Ulianitskiy, Co-Founder/Producer / at Logosrobokids from Lviv (Ukraine) has talked about Robotics teaching in informal settings, positioning it as an integral part of STEAM education. The main task of Robotics is to teach technologies of future, bridging the gap between the human and artificial intellect. And thus, it needs to find its way to the formal education. In Ukraine Robotics is already a trend supported by the state by acknowledging is as additional activity to the lessons, or in a form of clubs. Being experienced also in informal teaching of Robotics, Yuriy has shared his recommendations for the teachers, focusing on offering creative tasks during lessons, employing games, competitions and atypical approaches. But the most important is to motivate and engage by personal example.
Yuri also shared his experienced in coaching teams for the robotics contests.
Levan Kupatadze, International Relationship Development Manager of VET College Modusi (Georgia) presented the application of 3D Printing in Vocational Education and Training. 3D printing allows teachers to enrich the educational experiences involving computers and make the objects “alive”. For the college Modusi (http://www.modusi.ge )integrating 3D printing was a challenge that led to success. Levan has presented the 3D-printed material that was used for the dresses designed in the college. Many specializations linked to the repair of the transportation vehicles use 3D printing to use the detail models of different parts and mechanisms.
Shamam Gevorgyan, Education Director at Armath Engineering Laboratories educational program - https://armath.am/en in her presentation titled "Armath: the Algorithm of the Future" talked about introduction to science, technology, engineering, and math education in Armath Labs through interactive after-school classes, exciting competitions, innovative camps, etc. Currently more than 15 thousand students aged 10 to 18 are involved to the program led by 628 coaches. Armath is an informal program, however its mission is to empower younger generation with skills and mindset for the economy of the future by unlocking engineering talent. There are 600 labs spread across the country, but also present in Georgia and India. In addition to improving technology and IT education Armath focuses on strengthening the bonds between the schools, labor market and academia. Among 4 main components of the school-based labs Microcontroller Programming & Robotics, and 3D modelling are present. The lab consists of minicomputers, Robotics Kits, Educational 3D printers and CNC machines.
Oksana Zadorozhna, Associate Professor of the Department of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Flight Academy of the National Aviation University in her talk about Aviation robotic systems discussed the problems and prospects of their implementation in the educational process in an aviation higher education institution in Ukraine. The center for Robotics was established in the Flight Academy in 2017 along with creation of the UAV center. Oksana emphasized the importance of the proper methodology of teaching and raising capable educators. She also presented the practical topics of the Robotics courses curriculum.
The participants poll concerning who should support Robotics and 3D printing in education revealed that the majority believes in supreme responsibility of the national authorities, followed by the Partnerships and Projects.
The panelists discussed also the links and connections of 3D printing and Robotics, and also talked about replicability of their practices and experiences. The speakers advocated for step by step approach starting from the “constructor” type kits, and later customize it in the advanced stages, e.g. modelling and printing the Robots parts.
Finally, the participants were asked to share their impressions from the webinar in a couple of words, and as one participant has encouragingly summarized: Robotics is doable!
Videorecordings of the webinar in English and Russian, and the presentations are available below.
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