ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to provide the general theoretical background of robotics in education. The purpose is to introduce some foundational notions in learning theory and pedagogy. These notions are necessary to understand the role of educational sciences within human-robot interaction. In terms of education, behaviourism understands learning as the acquisition of new behavioural patterns based on environmental conditions. In response to the criticalities of the behaviourist approach to learning, cognitivism offers an alternative view where mental processes are central for the acquisition of knowledge. The constructivist approach to education is primarily based on the Piagetian view of learning. Tutoring was hailed as one of the most effective ways of teaching by educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom's research, in which he found that children receiving tutoring have a significant performance advantage over their peers who received traditional teaching in a classroom. Project-based Learning views the student as an active learner who solves real-life problems in a collaborative effort within a project context.
