João Correia de Freitas

This paper is a synthesis of an Educational Sciences’ doctoral thesis in Technology, Networks, and Multimedia in Education and Training. The thesis’ main goal was to conceive, propose, implement and compare the design of four teachers’ workshop in distance e-Learning, about the potential of tangible and virtual robotics for students with special educational needs. The study was divided into three distinct phases, distributed over three academic years, from 2013 to 2016. The methodology adopted was mixed and based on a Design-based Research model approach. The participants were 74 teachers teaching in Portugal and Brazil. The results indicated that virtual robotics workshops had the highest enrolment and the lowest withdrawal rate among the participants. Keywords: Educational robotics; Special Educational Needs; Inclusive education; Teachers’ training; Design-based Research.

Since the ratification of the Salamanca agreement in 1994 that it is the concern of schools to seek inclusive approaches that may lead all students to academic success through differentiated strategies and adaptations or curricular and environmental