International Conference on Information Society (i-Society 2017)

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Ana Hol
School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics
Western Sydney University
Sydney, Australia
[Link]@[Link]

Abstract—This resarch in progres demonstartes how Lego they have learned to different situation without necessarily
Robots could be used to teach Science Tecnology, Engineering always being given the full guidance. Educators on the other
and Mathematics (STEM) by applying the Gamification hand need to take into the account that some STEM concepts
principles and simulating real life business environemnts. can be taught together, rather than in isolation as it was once
Keywords: Lego robots, engaged teaching, future classroom, done (ie. environmental studies and business analysis). They
STEM Education, gemification. also need to take into the account that each student will grasp
concepts in a different way and at the different pace and that
therefore progression for every student may need to be
I. 21ST CENTURY STEM STUDENTS, EMPLOYEES AND individually tailored [1].
INTERCONNECTED ENVIRONMENTS
This research in progress examines strategies that could be Furthermore, it is also important to take into the account
utilized to teach Science Technology Engineering and that some problems may have multiple solutions and that not
Mathematics (STEM) students in the 21st century. Today, it can only one answer may be correct as this is true for many
be seen that young generations heavily rely on social media, inventions. A fact that multiple true answers may exist
instantaneous messaging, just in time feedback and online however, is still not widely accepted as many assessment
game like environments. They engage in conversations, they marking rubrics would struggle to accommodate it. Same is
post information, act upon the feedback they receive and true for projects that fail.
provide feedback to others within their interest circles. Therefore, to identify how best the interconnected
When comparing online instantaneous feedback environments in which young generations live in, feedback
environments to traditional classroom environments, it can be from the employees and new technological advancements can
seen that they significantly differ. Traditional classrooms first be united this paper explores introduction of gamification
teach theory then provide room for the skill applications. principles in STEM Education.
Feedback in traditional teaching environments is often attached
to the assessments directly, while in the online environments it II. GAMIFICATION AND STEM EDUCATION
can be purely attached to likes, comments, blogs and reviews. Gamification is a term that describes how game based
When addressing STEM employers’ views about the skills scenarios can be utilized to engage in teaching students. For
the 21st Century employees require, it appears that they example EV3 Lego Robots can be utilized to teach a range of
strongly support environments that allow open skills from completing specific actions to solving large world
communications, questioning, negotiating, critical assessments, problems.
innovation and experimentation [8], similar to those found in In a real engineering example, if a new rail line is to be
the online environments. developed were a self-driving train is to be implemented as a
Therefore, it can be seen that to allow students to learn and part of the smart city initiative, first of all the environmental
excel in the 21st Century, it is very important to provide them analysis would need to be undertaken. This would mean that a
with the environments that allow for the instantaneous plan would need to be identified if train is to follow round loop
feedback, experimentation and innovation both online and face route or go in a back and forward route (one often seen at
to face. airport terminals), which data is to be generated and collected
by train movements, where sensors are to be implemented and
New classroom developments, similar to gaming and online how trains are to be monitored. For the route to be developed,
environments, require open spaces where students can come tracks map of the area would need to be generated and required
together to learn, test, break and achieve both online and face buildings, constructions and modification to current
to face. One of the examples how students could learn STEM infrastructure identified. Only after this is done, actual
concepts and apply them to real life problems can be addressed development could be undertaken.
with Lego Robots.
Considering, to implement the solution, the problem would
Use of Lego Robots in the classrooms requires, students to need to be broken down. This teaches students that large, world
accept that learning will not always happen via frontal teaching problems often need to be broken down to components to be
such as lectures. Students will also need to be ready to move solved. It also teaches them about the multidisciplinary
outside of their comfort zones, so that they can apply principles approaches. In a train example, urban planner, construction

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engineers, electrical and computer engineers, environmental students opportunities to understand complexities of real world
scientists, systems architects, network integrators, project problems.
leader and many other professionals would need to work
together to achieve a common goal. Gamification tools therefore can allow students to aggregate
knowledge gathered via business studies, environmental
Lego Robots therefore could also be implemented for studies, engineering and computer studies. Furthermore, it is
projects where students would need to create the built expected that gamification will help students learn about the
environments and write the code for the robot, so that its coded complexities of large world problems which will allow students
functions can meet the set business requirements. This would to understand dependencies between professional fields.
furthermore allow students to engage in projects much beyond
the standard set curriculum. Students will also learn that when solving real life business
problems experts from various fields need to be involved ie.
Piaget identifies that in later adolescent years and early project managers, environmental scientists, systems architects,
adulthood propositional logic, inductive and deductive logic, programmers, engineers. For example Lego Robot’s
and combinatorial reasoning are being developed [6] which are construction, deployment and operations will often require
all essential when solving world problems, innovating and careful analysis of the problem facing the robot, robot’s course,
implementing new solutions. Therefore this closely supports robot’s requirements, robot design specifications, development
the notion that engaged multidisciplinary tasks should be and implementation of the solution as well as the design of the
introduced in early years at the undergraduate levels, so that course as the built system would need to operate seamlessly.
students can gain computational thinking skills that are crucial
when solving problems in the interconnected world. IV. CONCLUSION
It can be seen that Gamification principles can be used to
III. FROM GAMES TO REAL LIFE PROBLEMS teach students not just the programing but also give students’
Lego Robots could be applied to the curriculum utilizing the opportunity to understand how large world problems need
gamification principles to teach students about the real world to be broken down and analyzed and how often their solutions
problems. They could also be used to teach students about the require creative thinking, innovation, problem solving and
specifics of the professions job roles as well as the operations. inputs from multidisciplinary teams. Students furthermore,
As Ryken, 2001 identified, it is important to establish the learn not only to rely on specific knowledge they receive via
relationships and give examples that future generations would traditional classes but also take into the account logic,
be able to relate to themselves in the environment they know computational thinking, problem solving and apply both
and understand [7]. Following the environmental and business deductive and inductive reasoning when solving real word
problems.
analysis it is then essential to provide students with theoretical
information [4] and specific task instructions.
REFERENCES
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[7] A.E. Ryken,.‘Content, pedagogy, results: A thrice told tale of
require the knowledge and the understandings of the individual integratingwork-based and school-based learning’, unpublished doctoral
components of the fields such as mathematics, science, dissertation, School of Education, University of California, Berkeley,
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and Mathematics in the National Interest: A Strategic Approach,
Use of Lego Robots and similar tools in classrooms is Australian Government, Canberra, available from:
expected to help integrate new learning approaches and give [Link]
[Link] (Access Date: 28, August, 2016)

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