Abstract:
The introduction of automation in industry can increase production efficiency by reducing work time and costs and increasing production accuracy, which is why the industrial sector needs more personnel with specialized skills. In vocational education, the importance of developing learners' knowledge and skills is placed on creating personnel who meet the needs of the industrial sector. However, using conventional teaching methods, students may face more difficult content immediately without understanding the essential content well enough, resulting in learning achievement lower than the specified criteria. This research has developed learning activities on factory automation systems for vocational students using the gradual teaching method. The objectives are to develop learning activities on factory automation systems for vocational students using the gradual teaching method and to study the learning achievement and motivation of learners who receive such activities. The research is a preliminary experimental design. The target group is 18 students in the Higher Vocational Certificate (Vocational Certificate) program in Mechatronics and Robotics at Pattaya Technical College. The developed learning activities use the gradual teaching concept, dividing learning into six steps according to Bloom's Taxonomy. The research instruments are the learning achievement test and the motivation assessment. We use the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test to examine the differences. The research found that the developed learning activities help students have significantly higher learning achievement at the 0.05 level. In addition, the assessment of learners' motivation also found that students have a high level of motivation, especially in learning interest, confidence, and satisfaction.