Project workshop kit

• Grant number: 03/07967-2
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Innovative Research in Small Business - PIPE
• Start date: June 01, 2004
• End date: December 31, 2004
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Education - Educational Teaching and Learning
• Principal Investigator: Irene Karaguilla Ficheman
• Grantee: Irene Karaguilla Ficheman
• Company: Criartec Indústria, Comércio e Serviços de Materiais Didáticos para Educação Inovadora em Tecnologia Ltda
• City: São Paulo

Abstract

The main objective of the Project Workshop Kit is to research and develop products aimed at guided learning through the solving of problems by means of carrying out projects. This proposal will serve as a tool in the area of technology education for children and adolescents, in the formal sphere (primary and secondary), in the non-formal sphere and in home use. The project will be developed through a partnership between Criartec and the Laboratory for Integratable Systems of the University of São Paulo’s Polytechnic School (LSI-EPUSP). The kit should comprise a complete set of building blocks consisting of printed circuit boards, electroelectronics components and the respective support material, which will allow for multiple combinations. The blocks will be divided in three types: entry, processing and exit, each one containing corresponding elements and effective functioning, regardless of whether or not there is a computer. Given the lack of attractive learning tools and materials in this educational sector, the project could fulfill an important function as a demystifier of technologies that nowadays are seen as black boxes. The implementation and testing of a prototype of the kit should serve as a basis for the manufacture and commercialization on a product scale. (AU)