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With the approach of constant changes and quality assurance in education, we have reached an optimum that no longer justifies all further investments in such changes, as the results of these investments are (and will be) minimal and insufficient. We have reached a stage where we must shift from evolution to revolution, from constant changes in education to its complete transformation. Here, we must point out that we must reverse the flow of systemic changes from the dehumanization of society as that in Industry 4.0 or, in a slightly softer form, the Japanese vision of Society 5.0. This reverse flow offers us the re-humanization of society's development and it can be called Society 6.0 or, historically, also Society 1.1 (back to the past, to the first industrial revolution). [For the full proceedings, see ED629086.]

The Indian Institute of Science is proud to host the fully in-person sixteenth iteration of the International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM) during July 11-14, 2023. EDM is the annual flagship conference of the International Educational Data Mining Society. The theme of this year's conference is "Educational data mining for amplifying human potential." Not all students or seekers of knowledge receive the education necessary to help them realize their full potential, be it due to a lack of resources or lack of access to high quality teaching. The dearth in high-quality educational content, teaching aids, and methodologies, and non-availability of objective feedback on how they could become better teachers, deprive our teachers from achieving their full potential. The administrators and policy makers lack tools for making optimal decisions such as optimal class sizes, class composition, and course sequencing. All these handicap the nations, particularly the economically emergent ones, who recognize the centrality of education for their growth. EDM-2023 has striven to focus on concepts, principles, and techniques mined from educational data for amplifying the potential of all the stakeholders in the education system. The spotlights of EDM-2023 include: (1) Five keynote talks by outstanding researchers of eminence; (2) A plenary Test of Time award talk and a Banquet talk; (3) Five tutorials (foundational as well as advanced); (4) Four thought provoking panels on contemporary themes; (5) Peer reviewed technical paper and poster presentations; (6) Doctoral students consortium; and (7) An enchanting cultural programme. [Individual papers are indexed in ERIC.]

The International Conference on Academic Studies in Technology and Education (ICASTE) is set to take place at Amara Premier Palace Hotel in Antalya, Turkey, from November 16-19, 2023. Organized by the International Society for Research in Education and Science (ISRES) and the International Society for Academic Research in Science, Technology, and Education (ARSTE), the conference promises a diverse range of topics in the realm of education and technology. Highlighted presentations include discussions on the role of AI assistants and chatbots in higher education, the application of gamification to enhance student engagement and learning outcomes, and a systematic review of literature on the teaching of Nature of Science (NOS) based on the Family Resemblance Approach. Other notable topics cover issues such as teachers' organizational alienation and emotional labor, upskilling higher education engineering teachers for online creativity teaching, challenges in forming artistic-aesthetic culture in the virtual environment era, and the ethical considerations in education within the digital age. Further presentations delve into global concerns within sustainable development in science education, the significance of family as a fundamental principle in sustainable development, and the development of a smart wheelchair for the autonomous movement of disabled individuals. The conference also explores emerging trends in international teaching partnerships, the use of virtual laboratories in science education, and the integration of robotics and automation to enhance warehouse efficiency among logistics operators. Additionally, there are discussions on sanogenic reflection for emotional well-being, small group conversation structures in science education, risk management as part of sustainable technological and industrial development, features of adolescent reflection with different character accentuations, and the implementation of the ADDIE model for material design in English language teaching. Moreover, the importance of creative drama in science education, innovative practices for environmental awareness and action in sustainability education, and the incorporation of artificial intelligence in STEM education are covered. The conference concludes with presentations on English conversational learning in a first middle school-based boarding school, the reflective and intuitive aspects in design, and the support of pre-service ESOL teachers' critical language awareness through dialectical variation. The event promises a comprehensive exploration of current issues and innovations at the intersection of technology and education. [This conference was organized by the International Society for Academic Research in Science, Technology, and Education (ARSTE).]

This article intends to investigate the consistency between a few popular generative AI robots in the evaluation of massive open online course (MOOC) platforms. The four robots experimented with in the study were Claude+, GPT-4, Sage, and Dragonfly, which were tasked with awarding rating scores to the eight major dimensions, namely (1) content/course quality, (2) pedagogical design, (3) learner support, (4) technology infrastructure, (5) social interaction, (6) learner engagement, (7) instructor support, and (8) cost-effectiveness, of the 31 currently very popular MOOC platforms. Only Claude+'s and Dragonfly's rating scores turned out to be amenable to statistical analysis. For each of the two robots, the minimum, the maximum, the range, and the standard deviation of the rating scores for each of the eight dimensions were computed across all the 31 MOOC platforms. The rating score difference for each of the eight dimensions between the two robots was calculated for each platform. The mean of the absolute value, the minimum, the maximum, the range, and the standard deviation of the differences for each dimension between the two robots were calculated across all platforms. A paired sample t-test was then applied to each dimension for the rating score difference between the two robots over all the platforms. Finally, a correlation coefficient of the rating scores was computed for each of the eight dimensions between the two robots across all the MOOC platforms. The computational results were to reveal whether the two robots awarded discrimination in evaluating each dimension across the platforms, whether any of the two robots systematically underrated or overrated any dimension with respect to the other robot, and whether there was consistency between the two robots in evaluating each dimension across the platforms. It was found that discrimination was prominent in the evaluation of all dimensions save Dragonfly's rating of the dimensions learner support, technology infrastructure, and instructor support, Claude+ systematically underrated all dimensions (p < 0.000 < 0.05) compared with Dragonfly except for the dimension cost-effectiveness, which Claude+ systematically overrated (p = 0.003 < 0.05), and the evaluation by the two robots was consistent only for the dimensions content/course quality, pedagogical design, and learner engagement with the correlation coefficients ranging from 0.445 to 0.632 (p from 0.000 to 0.012 < 0.05). Consistency implies at least the partial trustworthiness of the evaluation of these MOOC platforms by either of these two popular generative AI robots based on the analogous concept of convergent validity for an operationalized instrument to measure an abstract construct. [For the full proceedings, see ED636095.]

Hybrid teaching has become a common approach, with its inclusive character being a main advantage. However, it also comes with problems such as increased attention requirements for teachers and a lacking social integration of both groups of students (remote, on-site). The present research aims to enhance the potential of hybrid teaching through innovative technology concepts that leverage the advantages while minimizing the disadvantages from a technical and experiential perspective. Based on a literature analysis and empirical insights from explorative interviews with teachers and students, we introduce the concept of the Fernstudent. It gives remote students a physical presence in the classroom, in the form of an anthropomorphic robot that sits in a row with the other students, transmits images and sound from the lecture hall, and can also signal to join the discussion. Retrospective interviews with teachers after nine-week field tests revealed that it could provide the main envisioned benefits but also showed points for further development. Limitations of the present research and more general implications for research and practice are discussed. [For the full proceedings, see ED636095.]

Educational Robotics is increasingly used in elementary-school classrooms to develop students' algorithmic thinking and programming skills. However, most research appears descriptive and lacks experimental evidence on the effects of teaching interventions using robotics to develop algorithmic thinking. Using the robots Dash and Dot, this study examined algorithmic thinking development in groups of children aged 6, 9, and 12. The results showed a statistically significant main effect between the age of students and algorithmic thinking skills and a statistically significant main effect between intervention and algorithmic thinking. In conclusion, the findings underscore the necessity of providing learners with structured, scaffolded activities tailored to their age to effectively nurture algorithmic thinking skills when engaging in Dash and Dot activities. [For the full proceedings, see ED636095.]

Educational Robotics in Greece is being used increasingly, while it is hesitantly applied in Special Education as it requires a properly educational trained staff. The present study is a case study aiming to discuss the effects of the utilization of educational robotics in a Special Education School classroom and specifically on students with Autism to support their social skills, interaction skills, as well as cognitive skills. Lego WeDo kit and the Scratch environment were used to support the work of the participated students. Observation sheets, evaluation sheets, semi-constructed interviews before and at the end of the interventions, focus group discussion at the end of the whole intervention, were the research tools. The intervention had a positive effect on students improving their social skills. The cooperation and interaction of the students was remarkable. They progressively increased their ability to respond to instructions and were willing to share their effort with each other and the researcher. Most children stayed focused on the activity and tried to use the materials and resources responsibly. Sometimes weakness in respectful behavior towards peers and the researcher was noted, but all children followed socially acceptable behaviors. Children seem to have improved cognitive skills and they showed moderate improvement in content creation. Sometimes they showed enthusiasm, while they seemed to persist when they encountered obstacles or failures. [For the full proceedings, see ED656038.]

OECD (2019) defined student agency as the ability to set goals, reflect, and act responsibly to endorse change. It is quality of students' engagement and interaction with peers, teachers, parents and the wider community. The purpose of this research is to investigate and track the factors of promoting student agency and community engagement leading the change. Thirty nine students at a public high school in Lebanon were trained on STEAM activities such as: coding, robotics, electronics, crafts and 3D printing. Students took the initiative with continuous encouragement and facilitation from the principal and teachers to enrol and lead a community- based STEAM laboratory. A self-reflection questionnaire for students was administered in order to measure the characteristics and processes of the student agency. This case study used interviews, and focus groups in order to track the factors promoting this agency. The results of this study will inspire policy makers and school principals to promote student agencies and community involvement. [For the full proceedings, see ED654100.]

Recent research emphasizes the need for a more sustained interaction of schools with universities and research institutions. For example, informal after-school programs integrated into the school curriculum can provide opportunities for meaningful interaction with researchers in active learning settings. At the physics department of University of Calabria it has been launched in 2016 a program aimed at recovering disused, and in several cases ancient, instrumentation in laboratories of some schools in the region of Calabria. In 2022, our local project merged into Lab2go, a national project of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) (Lab2go; https://web.infn.it/lab2go/) and of University of Rome "La Sapienza" devoted to the enrichment of the laboratory activities of the schools. Lab2go involves a steadily increasing number of schools and has expanded to include chemistry, robotics and other subjects. This contribution discusses some didactic activities developed within Lab2go. The activities of Lab2go are integrated and form part of the (formal) school curriculum as work based experiences, which have become mandatory during the last three years of secondary schools. Thus, this project is an example of how specific policy interventions can lead to the kind of long-term structured collaboration between schools and research institutions needed to favor the shift of focus in science education. [For the full proceedings, see ED656038.]

Teaching robotics courses online is challenging due to the complexity of the interdisciplinary topics involved. One of the most challenging topics is 3D coordinate transformations. Students often struggle to grasp the concept of 3D coordinate transformations and their relevance to real-world robotic applications. This paper applies the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning methodology to address this challenge and shares the self-evaluation assignments given to students to gradually enhance their ability to solve a real-world robotic navigation problem -- a crucial skill required in almost all robotic applications. Each assignment includes an informative description that explains the purpose of the task and its connection to the next assignment. Manageable MATLAB resources are provided in each assignment, allowing students to study fundamental Matlab scripts and use MATLAB Grader for self-evaluation before submission. The instructor provides feedback on incorrect answers through MATLAB Grader. The assignments focus on problem-solving and can be automatically graded, building upon prior work done by the instructor. The paper will also detail strategies for motivating students to engage with these challenging assignments and how the instructor assists distracted students in catching up with any missing assignments. [For the full proceedings, see ED656038.]

The paper presents an attempt made to use the Arduino platform and the Scratch for Arduino (S4A) environment for the implementation of an educational project for 6th grade primary school students in a classroom attended by refugee, immigrants, and indigenous students. The aim was to investigate the opportunity to use educational robotics as tools to support the social interactions and social inclusion of refugee children in the classroom community. The research was a case study implemented in a primary school in rural Greece. Students had to work in groups to design, build, and program a construction that simulates an "escape room." Students of each group solving a riddle of the other groups must discover a code to unlock the door of the "escape room," based on a series of six worksheets of increasing difficulty to create their final construction. The research tools were a diagnostic questionnaire, an evaluation questionnaire, specially designed worksheets, an observation sheet for participatory observation, and sociometric test tools. Based on the findings it could be supported that educational robotics are able to support social interactions of refugee children to a certain extent. The intervention supported social interactions and collaboration among students but without solving the problem of difficulties in the social integration of refugee students in the classroom community. Verbally all students stated that they had not any problem cooperating with refugee students, but this was not strongly reflected in practice. Greek students interacted strongly with immigrant students and refugee students seemed to prefer interacting with immigrant students too. [For the full proceedings, see ED656038.]

Working collaboratively in groups can positively impact performance and student engagement. Intelligent social agents can provide a source of personalized support for students, and their benefits likely extend to collaborative settings, but it is difficult to determine how these agents should interact with students. Reinforcement learning (RL) offers an opportunity for adapting the interactions between the social agent and the students to better support collaboration and learning. However, using RL in education with social agents typically involves training using real students. In this work, we train an RL agent in a high-quality simulated environment to learn how to improve students' collaboration. Data was collected during a pilot study with dyads of students who worked together to tutor an intelligent teachable robot. We explore the process of building an environment from the data, training a policy, and the impact of the policy on different students, compared to various baselines. [For the full proceedings, see ED623995.]

"Proceedings of International Conference on Education in Mathematics, Science and Technology" includes full papers presented at the International Conference on Education in Mathematics, Science and Technology (ICEMST) which took place on March 24-27, 2022 in Antalya, Turkey. The aim of the conference is to offer opportunities to share ideas, to discuss theoretical and practical issues and to connect with the leaders in the fields of education. The conference is organized annually by the International Society for Technology, Education, and Science (ISTES). The ICEMST invites submissions which address the theory, research or applications in all disciplines of education. The ICEMST is organized for: faculty members in all disciplines of education, graduate students, K-12 administrators, teachers, principals and all interested in education. After peer-reviewing process, all full papers are published in the Conference Proceedings. [Individual papers are indexed in ERIC.]

Robots are useful tools for teaching mathematics and physics and engineering subjects in K-12 setting; they can be utilized in classrooms for explaining difficult and complex concepts because they capture the imagination of students. Rapid developments robotics technology in recent decade, institutions and researchers have employed robots to support K-12 education. Furthermore, Educators are increasingly interested in the potential of robots in education for learners. Due to its multidisciplinary nature, robots are considered a gateway to STEM education. Researchers in educational field are looking answers of Can robots in classroom reshape K-12 STEM education, and foster new ways of learning? In the present study, IT and Technology & Design Teachers' views on utilizing robots in instruction was investigated. Furthermore, teachers' willingness to use robots in diverse learning settings. The findings of the research revealed that most of the teachers were not employed robots in their teaching. However, overwhelm majority participants expressed their willingness of using robots in their education specifically in STEM education. Teachers reported that robots can be utilized as an instructional support tool in the classroom. [For the complete proceedings, see ED631021.]

This study aims to explore an educational learning environment that supports students to learn conceptual modelling with the unified modelling language (UML). In this study, we call the describing models "UML programming." In this paper, we show an educational UML programming environment for science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM) related subjects (especially for Technology or Engineering) in schools, which are able to apply from elementary school to university. At first, we explain why, what, and how doing the UML programming. In this study, we use a state machine diagram for UML programming. To draw this model, the students just put some states in rectangular shape and transitions in arrow shape. Two types of educational model notations in state machine diagram are introduced. Then, some advanced functions of the SRPS are described. They are an educational model editor, and management of users, learning tasks and models submitted by students. Next, two case studies with the SRPS are shown. One case study is adopted to the summer camp for 5th- and 6th-grade students. The participants were 20 students and were engaged in 4 hours workshop. We used a car-type robot with two DC motors, a one-touch sensor, and one infrared sensor connected to a micro:bit. The other case study is a formal technology class at one Japanese public junior high school. One teacher and five classes worked on UML programming for traffic lights. Each class had 20 9th-grade students. One student at this school was given a traffic light robot with three Light-emitting diode (LED) lights, a one-touch sensor, and one infrared sensor connected to a micro:bit. Finally, on the basis of these two case studies using our environment, we discuss the potential for innovative STEAM education with UML programming.

Social robots have the potential to play a vital role in education. Student technology acceptance may be considered as a driver for their successful integration in educational processes. Based on the ICAP (Interactive, Constructive, Active, Passive) framework and research on social robot roles, we have developed eight vignettes describing scenarios for the use of social robots in higher education, e.g., teaching assistant. Students in an introductory university course completed the vignettes; they answered questions based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT), as well as on their ethical approval. Drawing from a sample of N = 361 students, we carried out confirmatory factor analysis. In line with the conceptual basis, eight scenarios can be described. Overall, students do not accept social robots as presenters; however, the assessment of other roles, such as teaching assistant, is positive. By means of a latent profile analysis, we were able to identify four profiles that may be meaningful from a conceptual point of view. One profile is particularly noteworthy. It comprises students who accept social robots not as a means of instruction, e.g., as a tutor, but as a tool, e.g., to promote computational thinking.

The use of social robots in education is a growing area of research and the potential future applications are various. However, the conversational models behind current social robots and chatbot systems often rely on rule-based and retrieval-based methods. This limits the social robot to predefined responses and topics, thus hindering it from fluent communication and interaction. Generative language models such as GPT-3 could be beneficial in this context, e.g. for an improved conversation and open-ended question answering. This article presents an approach to utilizing generative language models to enhance interactive learning with educational social robots. The proposed model combines the technological possibilities of generative language models with the educational tasks of a social robot in the role of a tutor and learning partner. The implementation of the model in practice is illustrated by means of a use case consisting of different learning scenarios. The social robot generates explanations, questions, corrections, and answers based on the pre-trained GPT-3 model. By exploring the potential of generative language models for interactive learning with social robots on different levels of abstraction, the paper also aims to contribute to an understanding of the future relevance and possibilities that generative language models bring into education and educational technologies in general.

This study employed a single factor experiment to investigate how different voices from a social robot affect the learning outcomes and motivation of 46 children. The learning motivation for the participants was measured using the ARCS questionnaire, which tested for four subcategories: attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction. The results showed that a social robot's voice significantly affected children's motivation to learn, with the children preferring a social robot with a child's voice. However, the voice of a social robot exhibited no significant impact on their learning outcomes. The findings of this experiment are of value to those involved in designing children's learning material that uses social robots and to those who work on interaction design with children.

We offer this synthesized framework as a tool to reveal mathematical activity in a non-formal makerspace. In particular, we connect research at different grain sizes to illustrate and explain how mathematics plays a crucial, if often implicit, role in this activity. We begin with describing the Approximate Number System and the Ratio-Processing System, explain how those systems connect to both embodied cognition and Thompson's (1994) conceptualization of quantities. We then examine how prediction and anticipation relate, with a particular emphasis on how social feedback guided the emergent mathematical activity. Finally, we synthesize across the two frameworks, in order to better reveal mathematical activity in low-notation environments, as the first step towards a framework for understanding mathematical learning in non-formal and low-notation contexts. [For the complete proceedings, see ED630060.]

These proceedings contain the papers of the 18th International Conference on Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age (CELDA 2021), held virtually, due to an exceptional situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, from October 13-15, 2021, and organized by the International Association for Development of the Information Society (IADIS). The CELDA conference aims to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There have been advances in both cognitive psychology and computing that have affected the educational arena. The convergence of these two disciplines is increasing at a fast pace and affecting academia and professional practice in many ways. The CELDA 2021 Conference received 68 submissions from more than 21 countries. Out of the papers submitted, 34 were accepted as full papers for an acceptance rate of 50%; 16 were accepted as short papers, and 2 were accepted as reflection papers. In addition to the presentation of full, short and reflection papers, the conference also includes one keynote presentation from an internationally distinguished researcher: Dr. David Scaradozzi, Department of Information Engineering, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Italy. [Individual papers are indexed in ERIC.]

Computer Programming is believed to have effect on creativity, reasoning, analytic and mathematical skills. This cognitive development is at a cost from both ends of students and teachers of computer programming. Its abstractive nature makes it difficult to teach and learn hence, the enormous hours spent in teaching, learning and developing solutions. Consequently, the less interest among the students at all levels of education. Studies have shown various attempts to ease its teaching and learning by developing user friendly interfaces and use of course video teaching clips from seasoned programmers. However, learning and teaching programming skills remains a herculean task for student and teachers respectively. It is believed that interacting with a more tangible object can improve students' interest in developing computer programming skills. A mobile robot- a situated and embodied electronic device serves this purpose hence, the use of the device that students have more interest in interacting with in this study. In this work, an interactive program evaluation framework was developed that interact with a simulated e-puck robot on V-Rep simulator platform. The study shows an increased interest and improved performance in computer programming among Computer Science students.

COVID-19 presented a challenge to the traditional methods of teaching programming and robotics in a secondary school environment. When campuses were closed around the world in the spring of 2020, it was not possible for students to access the computer labs nor the robotics equipment that was traditionally used to facilitate the instruction of robotics programming units. This paper presents a design research project in which two secondary institutions in Canada and Turkey collaborated to teach computer science and robotics programming, specifically reinforcement learning, through the use of an online simulation environment. The two student cohorts in the study both were successful in developing reinforcement learning models for autonomous vehicles, despite not having any prior experience in machine learning nor artificial intelligence. The implications of this work are that physical robotics kits and dedicated robotics spaces are not essential to the teaching of programming and robotics. This is especially relevant to marginalized communities that do not have the resources to support robotics instruction, further exacerbating the digital divide.

Social robot in service is radically changing the ways of performing tasks and it becomes a distinct and valuable nascent. To achieve persist autonomy, robotic systems implement a closed-loop consisting of at least planning, reasoning and acting phases. From the continual loop perspective, this paper presents the ROSPlan framework, as a task planning and executing platform, and it introduces the integration of the ROSPlan framework in a service robotic system. Moreover, it discusses the planning, observing, monitoring, and executing processes in detail. A use case scenario is proposed which is suitable for the experiment requirements, and it presents a service robot accomplishing an assistant task in educational campus. Considering the implementation of the ROSPlan framework, TurtleBot3 robot using Gazebo simulates the execution phase of the proposed scenario.

As our society becomes more globalized and interconnected, technology adoption to support lifelong learning presents a continuous challenge for immigrants who need to acquire, update or adjust their learning and skills to the requirements of the host country. Consequently, technology adoption has become an important factor for immigrants to fulfill their specific educational needs with mobile devices allowing ubiquitous access to knowledge at anytime and anywhere. Besides the technical characteristics required for new services that challenge current network architectures, COVID-19 has become an accelerator to immigrants' technology adoption. Social distancing regulations have added pressure to technology adoption for educational purposes. In this paper, we explore how 5G technologies meet these requirements establishing a benchmark for immigrant's mobile learning strategy. Our descriptive framework aims to contribute to the understanding of educational uses of mobile technologies by migrants and the technical requirements to be provided by 5G technologies that will enhance the use of technology for educational purposes. Some 5G applications will be discussed emphasizing their contribution to the learning of immigrants and the actual distance regulations. [For the full proceedings, see ED613257.]