Science

The rationale behind structuring the Middle School Science Skills Lab program is to learn through designing projects enriched with natural meanings, creating constructions and sharing them with the learning community. This is accomplished by engaging with easy-to-use Educational Robotics objects and artifacts to make sense of abstract science concepts. The students involved will identify the powerful ideas behind everyday phenomena and use tools from different areas such as IT with BBC micro:bit and through active engagement, Learning by Doing, design and reflecting at their project through discussion they will use their imagination to develop solutions to issues they themselves will raise.

The course of activities begins by engaging with self-built constructions that are designed to deepen STEM concepts and include design and construction of the device. Then the placement and programming of Educational Robotics tools that may contain sensors and measurement and feedback devices from which the data to be processed graphically or computationally by the students is obtained. Finally, using a concept map, they will capture and share the meanings they have structured during their engagement. At the end of the project, they will collaborate and share the steps of the whole teaching year, modifying them appropriately to create a Rube Goldberg Machine which they will present in a poster to their learning community. In this way, learning becomes playful and the collaborative group activity highlights learning as a social process.

The added value of the programme is the development of 21st century skills, namely:

• It provides the experience of knowledge gained during the construction phase. Psychokinetic skills are developed in the construction of the constructions and the discussion to find solutions highlights the collaborative involvement of all group members, highlighting learning as a social experience.
•  It encourages the use of multiple representations of physical quantities both when measuring them and communicating their findings
• It embeds learning in realistic problems and relevant contexts to the students’ interests, thus enhancing the motivation to actively engage in the learning process
• Through direct feedback and low stakes in error due to the robustness and reusability of the devices, creativity, responsibility and freedom in the knowledge building process are encouraged