Introducing storytelling to educational robotic activities

Abstract

Creativity is a skill that has been recognized as one of the 21 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">st</sup> century skills. Likewise robotics has been recognized as technology with several features to enthrall children and be used to teach a variety of topics (e.g. Mathematics and programming). This paper presents a study done to verify the impact of introducing a storytelling session in an activity with children from 6 to 18 years old in Austria. A total of 196 participants participated in the workshops, held in the campus of the university. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed. The results showed that the most difficult task for old participants was the collaboration between groups created. Participants also did not mention the use of creativity during the design and implementation of the story. Instead participants referred to the work done with robots and technology. Moreover, participants think that working with robots is interesting and fun.