This study proposes a methodological approach that allows educational robotics to be used in order to develop collaboration skills in educational settings. Educational robotics is a promising educational tool that has the potential to become a platform for the development of a range of skills. However, there is a scarce amount of empirical case studies that present detailed information on the way it is implemented within formal primary school education. On the other hand, even though collaboration skills are considered vital for future school graduates, it is rarely discussed as the main focus of educational robotics. Most commonly collaboration or teamwork skills are viewed as a byproduct of the robotics activities. This work views collaboration skills as the main outcome. The methodological approach that this work proposes has been implemented during a period of three years in one pilot and two case studies. This research measures the reflection of the robotics tasks paired with the methodological approach to the development of collaboration skills. In order to measure the development of collaboration skills, the ATC21S^TM framework was used. The results showed activation of the indicators that comprise collaboration skills. Additionally, observations, which were gathered during unsupervised and unrelated to educational robotics, non-context-driven social interactions, showed improvements in students’ social behavior.

There is a wide range of ongoing research focusing on educational robotics and its effects on the development of student skills. Most of the literature review pinpoints the fact that the involvement of students with educational robotics increases or develops teamwork or collaboration skills. In most cases, this is argued without presenting significant or specific measures or even significant observations in students' behavior. This first research attempt aims to deliver a framework in which students can develop collaboration skills through the use of educational robotics. In order to produce this framework, collaboration principles were molded within the proposed strategy. In addition, the implemented strategy was observed through the spectrum of developing the collaboration skills that Hesse and his colleagues proposed. At this point, there is a need to understand that collaboration is not viewed as the means to achieve the learning effects in this work, but collaboration has to be viewed as the final outcome of the educational robotics students' involvement. Request access from your librarian to read this chapter's full text.

Collaboration skills are essential for the effectiveness and efficiency of collective efforts in both professional and personal contexts. However, their complex and intertwined nature poses challenges in both defining and assessing them. To develop educational methodologies aimed at enhancing the cultivation of collaboration skills, there is a need for developing pre-post experimental assessment tools that target the construct in real-life school settings. Research indicates a lack of performance-based assessment tools designed to assess collaboration skills. This research proposes a performance-based assessment developed through collecting evidence from individuals participating in both solo and group puzzle activities. The assessment is created by viewing collaboration skills through the lens of the ATC21S framework. A total of 148 students aged from 11 to 12 years old from 12 different public schools in Greece participated in this study, carried out over a period of 7 months between December 2023 and June 2024 in both the test and retest phases. The results show that, regardless of the group compositions, individual student collaborative performance was stable. The validity of using Spearman’s correlation coefficient was measured at 0.623.

Collaboration skills are an important component of 21st century skills and a critical skill for citizens of the future. In this work, we propose collaboration-oriented robotics education (CORE), a methodology aimed at fostering the development of collaboration skills in primary school students aged 11–12 via an adjusted approach to the teaching of educational robotics. In order to assess the existence and level of collaboration skills in a student, a suitable tool is also proposed. Using a collaboration-oriented performance evaluation test (COPE) for both a pre- and post-intervention measurement and applying both the conventional and CORE approaches to teaching educational robotics to 32 students, split into control and intervention groups, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Specifically, the experimental implementation shows that CORE statistically significantly increases the performance of the experimental group compared to the conventional way of teaching educational robotics. These results, in addition to validating CORE itself, demonstrate that the conventional approach to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) education is not necessarily already optimized, thus facilitating an overall re-evaluation of the field.

There is a constantly growing research interest for Educational Robotics and its effects to the development of student skills. Many researchers conclude and state that E.R develops and increases the collaboration skills of students, without presenting a specific strategy or a methodology that supports the whole process. In addition, the reports are not supported by measurable results or observations of elements that comprise the collaboration skills. This research focuses at the creation of the appropriate conditions, strategy and methodology in order for collaboration skills to find solid foundations for development. It is important to be stated that collaboration is not seen as the means to produce learning outcomes, but collaboration and collaboration skills are perceived to be the outcome of this approach. The aim of this article is to provide a visual depiction of our proposed approach.

Numerous scholars and researchers frequently express that educational robotics holds great potential for skills development. However, the true groundbreaking impact of educational robotics can only be realized when it is paired with appropriate pedagogical methodologies and techniques. The objective of this research is to integrate pedagogical theories into a framework that facilitates the growth of collaboration skills through the utilization of educational robotics. After, almost three and a half years of work, one pilot and two case studies were implemented within formal school settings, this research yielded encouraging tangible results. This work summarizes the important findings of this research and attempts to discuss the future development of a stand-alone measurement tool for assessing students’ collaboration skills at any given time within a primary school educational context for students between 11 and 12 years old.