Ecosistema para la educación computacional y el fomento de las disciplinas CTIM

Ecosystem for computer education and the promotion of STEM disciplines

Funding institution: FECYT – Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
Total budget: 26.000 €
Duration: July 2020 – June 2021

A little bit of history… SUCRE project started 4 years ago. It aims at the promotion of scientific vocations by the use of computational thinking and programming. As an evolving ecosystem of projects, it started with own-funding Sucre4Kids adressing high school and vocational education and training (VET) students. During the firsts four years, the project reached more than 250 students, who interacted with the tool, and over 4000 students who heard about it through our participation in fairs.  Currently, FECYT granted us some funds for making SUCRE evolve by the project sucre4STEM. Since all branches of the project shape SUCRE, and for better understading, we will call it just SUCRE .

SUCRE combines the use of smart devices and electronic components with visual programming for the consecution of tangible projects by students. Far from being an individual activity, as in most educational initiatives related to programming learning, the novelty lies in the introduction of social aspects and tangible interaction in sessions with students. Currently, we are improving the technological solution in order to be able to gather a higher number of educational centres around SUCRE. The improved version will recap all the benefits of the Internet of Things paradigm. At a technological level, we propose two main tools: SucreCore and SucreCode. SucreCore will provide a new, more compact design, encapsulate an advanced microcontroller, provide magnetic connectors in order to facilitate the physical connection of sensors and connectors, and support wireless connectivity with the ability to create online variables and functions. SucreCode – the block-based visual programming tool – will offer a revamped interface and allow wireless communication with SucreCore. At the pedagogical level, SUCRE will make it easier to undertake new group dynamics and create novel types of collaborative projects between groups of students. During the last stage of the project, we will (if COVID19 allows to do so) test and evaluate products and the pedagogical approach developed within the project. GEOTEC team will carry out in-person interventions in educational centres from the province of Castelló and remotely throughout the Spanish state.

Publications

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