Erasmus+ EARLY Project
2021-1-TR01-KA220-HED-000027617
Erasmus+ EARLY - Distance Learning Model Reinforced with Robotics for 3-7 Years Old Children is a 2-year Erasmus+ funded project which aims to involve approximately 20,000 educational stakeholders throughout Europe. The overarching aim of EARLY is to address issues of capacity in preschools and in families regarding how best to utilize digital and online technologies to develop multimodal practices through a Methodology for Online Education. It seeks to do this to enhance the social inclusion of marginalised children and families.
The 7 project partners are:
UNIVERSITY OF KOCAELI, Turkey
UNIVERSITY OF LATVIA
SCHOOL OF ROBOTICS, Italy
UNIVERSITY OF MANNHEIM, Germany
EARLY YEARS, NI and Ireland
POLYTECHNİC INSTİTUTE OF VİSEU, Portugal
MELLIS ED TECH, Turkey
The aim of this project is to raise the awareness of preschool teachers by developing:
A Manual for early education online labs including dynamic content which is linked to a distance learning module and enriched with Robotics, for preschool teachers to practice in their settings and assisting them to improve their professional profiles by giving hands-on training supported with digital teaching tools and robots.
The project will also provide:
A higher education modular course curriculum (R1), using open-source coding tools and various robotics kits tested for those ages.
As part of this research initiative, feedback from an online survey from preschools, preschool leaders and teachers, and families on strategies and challenges they are facing will support the design and development of a methodology for online education for 3-7 year old children.
Some of the terminology is explained below
Computational thinking is a problem-solving approach that allows us to take a complex problem, understand what the problem is and develop possible solutions. That solution can then be presented in a way that a computer, a human, or both, can understand. It has been integrated in several educational systems around the world.
Educational robotics aims to improve children’s learning through activities, technologies, and artifacts related to robots. These activities can involve the use of a physical robot, usually specifically designed for children, a modular system like LEGO Mindstorms, or other electronic components.
If you are interested in being a preschool test centre for this project, please get in touch!
