Aspectos cognitivos e afetivos de crianças e adolescentes em oficinas de robótica educativa

Abstract

Educational robotics as a pedagogical tool show up as a resource for promoting the cognitive development of children and adolescents, as well as an activity that is a source of motivation. The aim of this investigation was to characterize the aspects of cognitive and affective functioning of children and adolescents who participated in educational robotics workshops in a public school in Grande Vitória. The 18 research participants were aged between 11 and 14 years old and were divided into two groups, with nine children and adolescents in the Treatment Group (TG) and nine in the Comparison Group (CG). All children and adolescents were students from the 6th to the 8th grade from the same public Elementary School, with nine participating in the educational robotics workshops in the counter shift in a laboratory at school (TG) and the other nine were not participating in the workshops (CG). The research instruments were: Initial interview, Record in a field diary of Observations from the Robotics Workshops, Wechsler Abbreviated Intelligence Scale - WASI, Computational Thinking Test - CTT, Post CTT Interview, Interview on the use of eletronic equipment and EMA-EF - Motivation Assessment Scale. During 2019, all participants were evaluated at the beginning - pre-test - and at the end - post-test - of the year, with an interval of at least three and at most five months between assessments, and observations from 53 workshops were recorded. The research results related to the Intellectual Quotient (IQ) indicate that both in the pre-test and in the post-test, the verbal Intellectual Quotient, of execution and total of the TG were higher than those of the CG, as well as the score in the CTT was higher in TG participants. Thus, even though both groups have increased the total IQ average in the second assessment, the TG achieved total IQ averages (92.89 and 97.33) higher both in the pre-test and in the post-test when compared to the total IQ averages (86.33 and 90.44) of the CG. The qualitative analysis of the results of the Intelligence Scale showed differences between the participants of the TG and the CG, as in the TG there was a Medium Superior and Superior classification, which did not occur in the CG, and in the CG there were more results of a Medium, Medium Inferior classification. There was a pattern in the results of the instruments for assessing the cognitive aspect, so that most subjects, both TG and CG obtained an increase in scores in both instruments (Intelligence Scale and TPC) from the pre-test to the post-test. As for the Motivation to learn, there was a greater predominance of intrinsic motivation in the TG participants, while in the CG the extrinsic motivation was predominant. The observation records showed that the workshops, in addition to being recognized by the students as a space for learning, were also an environment for interaction, establishing bonds, playfulness and team work. In addition, the workshops offered an environment for the production of knowledge through the exploration of the new, observing a tendency of the participants to show intensity and persistence in the execution of robotics activities. As possible practical contributions of Psychology to the robotics project, the proposed action of an interdisciplinary team is suggested in order to improve the systematic of the workshops and favor the establishment of a greater interface between the contents of the regular disciplines and what is learned by the students in robotics workshops. The observations of the workshops and the results of the interviews and applied scales allowed a better understanding of the dynamics, motivational and cognitive aspects involved in the daily life of educational robotics workshops, as well as placing these aspects within a more general panorama related to the process of human development.