Abstract
Programming and robotics are critical thought-provoking concepts that shape STEM courses within secondary schools today. Their use in creating engaging, skill-building projects in technology education is constantly increasing worldwide. In this work, a novel learning scenario aiming at the design of 3D bioclimatic spaces is proposed. It combines Arduino microcontroller with 3D printing devices. The scenario is appropriate for the last grades of P-12 students and can be easily implemented in every secondary high or vocational school. It is fully compliant with most national ICT curricula adopted. The main objective is that students will enhance their critical thinking capacity, increase the level of digital literacy, and develop design skills by exploring and constructing appropriate 3d space models.
TopBackground
Why is programming such an attractive course in school curricula? Why do children have to develop coding skills? Why do teachers embed computer-based activities into their daily practice? Because programming is a much valuable skill as it promotes creativity, teamwork, logical reasoning, mathematical intuition and problem-solving skills (Brennan, 2009; Berry, 2013). In general, it helps students develop their own thinking paths, not following instructions, thus it paves the way for computational thinking (Papadakis, 2019).
This situation comes along with difficulties. A major one occurs during in the construction of an algorithm or program (Papadakis et al., 2016; Tollervey, 2015). According to the classical teaching approach, students in the beginning are taught a general-purpose language (Pascal, Basic, C, Java, etc.). This choice is problematic, as those languages include multiple commands which in combination with formal structural and grammatical details form a large amount of information that must be mastered by the students. This forces them often, to be more concerned with the language technical details and not focused on fundamental concepts and programming techniques. Papadakis et al. (2017) suggest the combined use of appropriate activities and solving selected problems in a computer lab using real programming language environments (programming languages like C, C++, Java, Python which are widely used in programming contemporary software and hardware systems).
A combined approach to learning programming recommends appropriate teaching environments that on the one hand help students solve problems and on the other effectively address the aforementioned misconceptions and difficulties (Papadakis & Orfanakis, 2014; Papadakis & Kalogiannakis, 2019). This approach emphasizes on the pedagogical design for teaching novice programmers, as the emphasis will shift from teaching a strict language syntax to the development of critical and analytical thinking through problem solving (Papadakis et al., 2016).
Key Terms in this Chapter
STEM: Science, technology, engineering, maths.
Computational Thinking: A novel problem-solving approach that enhances the interpolation of digital technologies with human ideas.
Programming: ?he process of planning, scheduling, or performing of a program for a device (such as a computer).
3D Printing: Is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model.
Sensors: A device which detects or measures a physical property and records, indicates, or otherwise responds to it.