EDUCATIONAL ROBOTICS AND TECHNICAL AND PROFESSIONAL SECONDARY EDUCATION: ADVANCES, CHALLENGES, AND POSSIBILITIES AT IEMA

Abstract

Considering the challenges posed by digital transformation and the need to modernize Technical and Professional Education, Educational Robotics has emerged as a relevant pedagogical strategy in integrated secondary education. In this context, the Instituto Estadual de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Maranhão (IEMA) has consolidated Robotics as a structuring curricular component of its educational proposal. This study aims to analyze the implementation of Educational Robotics at IEMA, identifying advances, challenges, and possibilities within technical and professional secondary education, as well as its contributions to students’ integral education. To this end, a qualitative and descriptive research approach was adopted, using open-ended questionnaires applied to an institutional administrator who served as rector during the period of Robotics implementation, and to two IEMA graduates who, after completing higher education, returned to the field of Educational Robotics and currently work as teachers. Data analysis shows that the integration of Robotics occurred through a gradual process of institutionalization, supported by political decisions, investments in infrastructure, teacher education, and curricular reorganization. Advances are observed in student engagement, interdisciplinarity, and the development of technical, cognitive, and socio-emotional competencies, although challenges persist, particularly regarding the need for continuous teacher training and infrastructure maintenance. It is concluded that Educational Robotics at IEMA has been consolidated as a structuring pedagogical practice, aligned with the principles of Technical and Professional Education and with contemporary demands for integral education.