The training entitled “Coding and Robotics with Traditional Kids’ Games” is an innovative workshop course for teacher professional development, under the Erasmus+ Key Action 1: ‘Learning Mobility of Individuals’.

We want to help teachers to meet the challenges of the 4th Education Revolution through implementing, amongst other things, the basic skills related to coding and robotics. The 4th Education Revolution is a broad term that refers to a unique approach in lifelong learning. It comprises a collection of activities, instructional programs, educational resources and a pedagogical philosophy commensurate with current economic and social changes across the world.

We will use old forgotten children’s games as a stimulus for programming robots within a progressive, interdisciplinary pedagogy for primary students. The rationale for conducting such activities in schools is found in the European reference framework in the context of training of key competences.

We aim to develop teachers’ confidence in deploying basic coding with robots across the curriculum, including areas such as Mathematics, Science, Languages, Technology, Engineering, and the Arts as (STEAM) lessons. Teachers will learn a range of essential coding commands and will be able to set up and use pre-coding and early coding activities with their students in the classroom.

Game-based learning with old traditional children’s games has been shown to motivate students in classroom activities and to enhance their growth in many areas. The course will provide an opportunity for participants to improve their coding skills and express themselves freely, encourage them to change their usual mode of thinking and to develop their own computational thinking in a truly collaborative way. They will develop a deeper insight into the concepts, strategies, and the didactic aims and objectives of coding and robotics.

Participants will acquire practical knowledge and will be offered familiarity with examples of good teaching practice, and they will be able to share their views and ideas with other course participants. Furthermore, they will be shown how different kind of games are used in class, those being: across curriculum storytelling, traditional ‘grandma’ games and their reinvention and digitalization with very young students etc.

The training sessions will be led by experienced teachers and professors with first-hand experience in demonstrating innovative practice and useful educational resources.