Research has shown that educational robotics can be an effective tool to increase students’ acquisition of knowledge in the subjects of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and promote, at the same time, a progression in the development of computational thinking (CT) skills in K–12 (kindergarten to 12th grade) education. Within this research field, the present study first sought to assess the effect of a robotics laboratory on the acquisition of CT-related skills in primary school children. The study also aimed to compare the magnitude of the effect of the laboratory across third- and fourth-grade students. For the purpose of the study, a quasi-experimental post-test-only design was adopted, and a group of 51 students, from third- and fourth-grade classrooms, participating in the robotics laboratories, were compared to a control group of 32 students from classrooms of the same grades. A set of Bebras tasks was selected as an overall measure of CT skills and was administered to children in both the intervention and control groups. Overall, the results showed that programming robotics artefacts may exert a positive impact on students’ learning of computational thinking skills. Moreover, the effect of the intervention was found to be greater among third-grade children.

In recent years, educational researchers and practitioners have become increasingly interested in new technologies for teaching and learning, including augmented reality (AR). The literature has already highlighted the benefit of AR in enhancing learners’ outcomes in natural sciences, with a limited number of studies exploring the support of AR in social sciences. Specifically, there have been a number of systematic and scoping reviews in the AR field, but no peer-reviewed review studies on the contribution of AR within interventions aimed at teaching or training behavioral skills have been published to date. In addition, most AR research focuses on technological or development issues. However, limited studies have explored how technology affects social experiences and, in particular, the impact of using AR on social behavior. To address these research gaps, a scoping review was conducted to identify and analyze studies on the use of AR within interventions to teach behavioral skills. These studies were conducted across several intervention settings. In addition to this research question, the review reports an investigation of the literature regarding the impact of AR technology on social behavior. The state of the art of AR solutions designed for interventions in behavioral teaching and learning is presented, with an emphasis on educational and clinical settings. Moreover, some relevant dimensions of the impact of AR on social behavior are discussed in more detail. Limitations of the reviewed AR solutions and implications for future research and development efforts are finally discussed.

This chapter reflects the research conducted for the development of Augmented Reality (AR) interactive components for Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) involving the development of an AR mobile app from the basic principles to the software prototype. The research lays the foundations for introducing AR into a new teaching and learning context based on the teaching of behavior according to the PBIS framework. PBIS is a preventative approach for decreasing problem behavior and improving the instruction of expected behaviours, organization of consequence systems, redesign of environmental settings, and use of evidence-based practices. The main aim of this chapter is to introduce the PBIS–AR mobile app and provide an overview of the development process integrating AR with the requirements of PBIS practice. After a short reference to PBIS, the concept underlying the development of the PBIS–AR app is presented. The concept is based on the definition of a new theoretical paradigm that integrates AR and behavioural learning creating an augmented space that we have called Augmented Reality Behavioral Learning Space (AR–BLS). The chapter further introduces the structure of the behavioural lessons, designed to instruct learners according to the school behavioral values, and presents the PBIS–AR app architecture as a component of the AR PBIS ecosystem. It illustrates the different components of this ecosystem together with the AR solutions adopted.