Abstract
The different levels that comprise education seek to adapt techniques, practices, models, and strategies to complement teaching and learning generating knowledge in students; thus, in its different fields, it provides the basis for technology to develop software applications to assist with teaching and learning practices. Consequently, education undergoes rapid changes that influence improvement through the use of some of the tools such as robotics and augmented reality which contribute to improving learning scenarios in students, allowing them to develop their metacognitive skills using technological environments designed to educate and be a medium in the educational process. Therefore, this topic addresses the following study based in the completion of two projects aimed at elementary school students in fundamental subjects, allowing them to become familiar with technology as a means of learning.
TopBackground
Structure of Education in Panama
The Panamanian educational system is divided into three (3) levels: The General Basic Education, High School Education and Higher Education. The General Basic Education includes: Pre-school (Pre-kindergarten and Kindergarten, one year each) for children between 4 and 5 years, Elementary school lasts six (6) years and Middle or Junior High School lasts three (3) years. The second level is High School Education which lasts three (3) years and the last level is Higher Education. The third rung consists of 3 years and it is more diversified because it prepares young people to get an occupation or to continue higher education. It has an academic structure according to Education Law 34: Regular subsystem, which are the aforementioned levels, and the Non-Regular Subsystem, which includes: Basic Literacy Education, Early Childhood Education II 2 and 3 years, Early Childhood III 4 and 5 years; Middle Education and Supplementary Education.
Panama provides free and compulsory Elementary education until the ninth grade and there is also a special system for students with disabilities. On the other hand, education in Panama has had important advances in recent decades, especially in access and coverage at all levels of education; preschool, primary, pre-middle and middle education. Despite this, Panama is among the top five countries with the highest growth in Latin America. An educational landscape that has enables us to invest more in the education sector. Consequently, the educational system also has it’s weaknesses, without a doubt, this investment must have guarantees of execution.
Technologies in the Teaching-Learning Process
We will approach this topic in two contexts: Augmented Reality and Educational Robotics, although there are many other aspects from the point of view of Technology.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Educational Robotics: Teaches the design, analysis, application, and operation of robots. Robots include articulated robots, mobile robots, or autonomous vehicles.
Environment Conservation: Is basically the practice of us humans to save the environment from collapsing, such as loss of species, ecosystems due to pollution and human activities.
Robotics: Is an interdisciplinary research area at the interface of science and engineering.
Information Technology: Is the use of computers to store, retrieve, transmit, and manipulate data or information. IT is typically used within the context of business operations as opposed to personal or entertainment technologies.
Education: Is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, belief and habits.
Natural Sciences: Is a branch of science concerned with the description, prediction, and understanding of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation.
Augmented Reality: Is an interactive experience of a real-world environment where the objects that reside in the real world are enhanced by computer-generated perceptual information, sometimes across multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory, and olfactory.