WIP: Educational Robotics Through Interdisciplinary Project-Based Learning in the Training of Teachers and Students in Professional and Technological Education

This WIP research-to-practice paper describes a training project in Educational Robotics (ER) for teachers and students of Professional and Technological Education (PTE) through Interdisciplinary Project-Based Learning (IPBL) carried out at the Federal Institute of Amazonas Campus Manaus Distrito Industrial (IFAM-CMDI), Brazil. Such training is due to the fact that currently, several High School students do not have the opportunity to have contact with contexts that promote and stimulate professional and technological skills. When they enter technical schools, in courses focused (mostly) on technological areas, they seek these skills. Among the actions to carry out this training was the acquisition and use of LEGO® and Arduino Robotics kits. This training was applied to teachers of different subjects and students belonging to the Integrated Technical Courses in Electronics and Mechatronics in High School at IFAM-CMDI. Students interacted with teachers and together they developed interdisciplinary projects. Each group made up of teachers and students were exposed to the proposed methodology, during the first semester of 2024. It is expected for the second semester of 2024 that encouraging the development of professional skills in participants will bring a change in academic stance with positive results, both in teaching and in student training, as the IPBL active methodology promotes the construction of skills for both, such as logical reasoning, critical thinking, decision making, work in groups with collaboration and negotiation of arguments, actively participation in the formulation of hypotheses, in addition to reflecting and evaluating the different stages and procedures of resolution problems.