On November 24th, I took part in the third appointment of EduRobotics at the SMACT Competence Centre in Padova, organised in collaboration with the Équipe Formativa Territoriale of USR Veneto and the Department of Information Engineering, University of Padua.
The theme of this edition was the integration of educational robotics and artificial intelligence. During the opening plenary session, I presented the latest developments in educational robotics and its intersections with AI, exploring challenges and opportunities for classroom practice. As part of this, I introduced the AI2Schools Erasmus+ project, which aims to bring AI into education through teacher training and hands-on activities with students. The urgency is real: recent surveys show that more than half of students already use AI-based applications to study, while around 70% of teachers report needing specific training to integrate these technologies meaningfully. AI2Schools promotes a participatory and inclusive approach, where teachers and students learn together to use and critically interpret AI tools.
Later in the morning, I led a hands-on laboratory for lower secondary school teachers: “How does a machine understand our gestures?“, a practical exploration of how machine learning can be brought into the classroom in an accessible and engaging way.
