Educational Robotics and Its Impact in the Development of Critical Thinking in Higher Education Students

Abstract

In this paper, the results of the first stage of a research project that aims to stimulate the development of critical thinking as a XXI century learning outcome is presented. During the development of thnge project, an intervention in a group of high school students of a public school through educational robotics was carried out by means of a Blended (B-)learning course. Our course is mainly focused on educational robotics since it is a polyvalent, transdisciplinary, dynamic and action oriented technological tool for problem solving of any kind. In fact, educational robotics is a robotics-based interdisciplinary learning system linking several different analytical skills. The methodology of choice was Design Based Research (DBR), which enables the instructor to work on problem-based learning. The instructional design used for this intervention is also presented.