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Educational Robotics and Down syndrome: Investigating student performance and motivation

Published: 20 June 2018 Publication History

Abstract

This paper addresses the implementation of a particular didactic scenario using educational robotics in special education and examines its impacts. It reports on a single subject experiment study which involved the design, implementation and evaluation of a didactic intervention in which a child with Down syndrome (CDS) constructed and programmed a programmable robot, using the Lego Wedo 2.0 kit, in order to learn about one particular subject of History (the Odyssey in Greek Mythology). The research questions are related to the impact of this particular educational robotics intervention on the performance of the child and the motivation to participate. The qualitative results collected through initial/final evaluations, interviews and non-participative observation are very encouraging. It seems that there was a positive effect both on the performance and motivation of the child. Educational robotics seem to offer new opportunities and potentials in alternative education of children with Down syndrome.

References

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Cited By

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  • (2025)Utilizing educational robotics in elementary school to foster problem-solving skills and enhance the teaching of historyPedagogical Research10.29333/pr/1568010:1(em0231)Online publication date: 2025
  • (2023)Özel Gereksinimli Bireylerin Eğitiminde Bir Öğrenme Materyali Olarak RobotlarRobots as Learning Material in Education of Individuals with Special NeedsErzincan Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi10.17556/erziefd.99471025:1(170-183)Online publication date: 10-Mar-2023
  • (2022)Impact of Assistive Technologies to Inclusive Education and Independent Life of Down Syndrome Persons: A Systematic Literature Review and Research AgendaSustainability10.3390/su1408463014:8(4630)Online publication date: 13-Apr-2022
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    cover image ACM Other conferences
    DSAI '18: Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Software Development and Technologies for Enhancing Accessibility and Fighting Info-exclusion
    June 2018
    365 pages
    ISBN:9781450364676
    DOI:10.1145/3218585
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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    New York, NY, United States

    Publication History

    Published: 20 June 2018

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    Author Tags

    1. Special education
    2. down syndrome
    3. educational robotics
    4. history
    5. motivation
    6. performance

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    DSAI 2018

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    DSAI '18 Paper Acceptance Rate 17 of 23 submissions, 74%;
    Overall Acceptance Rate 17 of 23 submissions, 74%

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    Cited By

    View all
    • (2025)Utilizing educational robotics in elementary school to foster problem-solving skills and enhance the teaching of historyPedagogical Research10.29333/pr/1568010:1(em0231)Online publication date: 2025
    • (2023)Özel Gereksinimli Bireylerin Eğitiminde Bir Öğrenme Materyali Olarak RobotlarRobots as Learning Material in Education of Individuals with Special NeedsErzincan Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi10.17556/erziefd.99471025:1(170-183)Online publication date: 10-Mar-2023
    • (2022)Impact of Assistive Technologies to Inclusive Education and Independent Life of Down Syndrome Persons: A Systematic Literature Review and Research AgendaSustainability10.3390/su1408463014:8(4630)Online publication date: 13-Apr-2022
    • (2022)A Systematic Review on the Application of Educational Robotics to Children with Learning Disability2022 Latin American Robotics Symposium (LARS), 2022 Brazilian Symposium on Robotics (SBR), and 2022 Workshop on Robotics in Education (WRE)10.1109/LARS/SBR/WRE56824.2022.9995956(448-453)Online publication date: 18-Oct-2022
    • (2022)Technology-enhanced support for children with Down SyndromeInternational Journal of Child-Computer Interaction10.1016/j.ijcci.2021.10034031:COnline publication date: 1-Mar-2022
    • (2021)Envisioning Educational Product User eXperience Through Participatory Design PracticeDesign, User Experience, and Usability: UX Research and Design10.1007/978-3-030-78221-4_11(156-170)Online publication date: 24-Jul-2021
    • (2020)Educational Robotics initiatives in Namibia and worldwideEighth International Conference on Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality10.1145/3434780.3436675(48-53)Online publication date: 21-Oct-2020
    • (2020)Using technology in special education: current practices and trendsEducational Technology Research and Development10.1007/s11423-020-09795-068:4(1711-1738)Online publication date: 18-Jun-2020

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