Projects per year
Abstract
Recent trends in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education are focused on developing problem-solving skills and computational thinking and empowering students with the STEM discipline's knowledge to solve real-world problems. STEM incorporates an interdisciplinary approach that includes inquiry, analysis, critical thinking, practical experimentation, and cooperative problem-solving. Technological advancements are offering new ways to integrate new tools such as drones, robotics and gaming in teaching and learning practices and modify the pedagogical approaches that are more appealing and engaging. This paper presents an innovative pedagogical approach and practice that integrate drone technology and block-based programming to foster students' computation thinking in a STEM context. The block-based visual programming languages provide an interactive environment to connect the blocks and write programs. The study was conducted in six Australian schools. Students were assigned projects to automate drones using the DroneBlocks app and make programs to fly the drone in different geometrical patterns; straight line, arch, rectangle, triangles and zig-zag and integrate the various manoeuvres; bounce, 8D flips, and throw & go along flight paths. Students' computational thinking development was examined with an emphasis on their performance in formulating and problem-solving. Results have shown that integrated drone and programming pedagogy contributed significantly to students' learning of developing computational thinking for problem-solving and decomposing a problem into smaller parts in a sequence that includes mathematical algorithms to write programs.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | EDUCON 2023 - IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference, Proceedings |
Publisher | IEEE Computer Society |
Pages | 1-5 |
Number of pages | 5 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9798350399431 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 22 May 2023 |
Event | 14th IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference, EDUCON 2023 - Salmiya, Kuwait Duration: 1 May 2023 → 4 May 2023 |
Publication series
Name | IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference, EDUCON |
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Volume | 2023-May |
ISSN (Print) | 2165-9559 |
ISSN (Electronic) | 2165-9567 |
Conference
Conference | 14th IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference, EDUCON 2023 |
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Country/Territory | Kuwait |
City | Salmiya |
Period | 1/05/23 → 4/05/23 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This research project was funded by the Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS), Charles Darwin University, Australia and had approvals from the Department of Defence, Australian Government, Department of Education, Northern Territory, Australia. The project had ethics clearance from the Ethics Committee of Charles Darwin University, Australia.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 IEEE.
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Developing Computational Thinking in STEM Education with Drones'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Finished
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DBELaSTEM: Drone-Based Experiential Learning and STEM Education
Sattar, F. (Principal Investigator/Chief Investigator A)
1/02/19 → 1/02/20
Project: Research
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