Middle School Student Attitudes Towards Robotics, Science and Technology

In 2000, the National Science Foundation (NSF) conducted a biennial study on the status of women and minorities in science and engineering. It was revealed that the numbers of women receiving bachelor\u27s degrees in computer science are on the decline. This fact calls for innovative changes in the traditional science curriculum. Science instruction with the implementation of robotics could provide female students the needed motivation. Therefore, the examination of female middle school student attitudes towards robotic enhanced science instruction is needed. Descriptive research was conducted to assess middle school student attitudes towards robots, technology and science. Gender differences were studied. The subjects were two classrooms of sixth grade students (N=53) and eighth grade students (N=74) from Charleston, Illinois. Observational checklists were completed to examine student behavior in the science classroom. A Likert-type questionnaire consisting of 20 items was administered to the male and female students to obtain their perceptions towards robotics and technology and to explore if gender differences existed in their responses. A Cronbach\u27s [alpha] analysis was applied to the data to measure reliability and Pearson chi-square and independent sample t-test analyses were used to compare genders. Finally, interviews were conducted with female middle school students (N= 8) to obtain in-depth information on their perceptions and attitudes towards robots, technology and the science. Results showed that middle school students exhibited positive attitudes towards robots, careers in robotics, science and technology. In many respects, female student attitudes were more positive than their male counter parts. Due to the motivation robotics enhanced instruction provides as well as the subtle way robotic implementation teaches computer programming, mathematics and creative problem solving, it is recommended that activities incorporating robotics be a part of every science curriculum

Middle School Student Attitudes Towards Robotics, Science and Technology

In 2000, the National Science Foundation (NSF) conducted a biennial study on the status of women and minorities in science and engineering. It was revealed that the numbers of women receiving bachelor\u27s degrees in computer science are on the decline. This fact calls for innovative changes in the traditional science curriculum. Science instruction with the implementation of robotics could provide female students the needed motivation. Therefore, the examination of female middle school student attitudes towards robotic enhanced science instruction is needed. Descriptive research was conducted to assess middle school student attitudes towards robots, technology and science. Gender differences were studied. The subjects were two classrooms of sixth grade students (N=53) and eighth grade students (N=74) from Charleston, Illinois. Observational checklists were completed to examine student behavior in the science classroom. A Likert-type questionnaire consisting of 20 items was administered to the male and female students to obtain their perceptions towards robotics and technology and to explore if gender differences existed in their responses. A Cronbach\u27s [alpha] analysis was applied to the data to measure reliability and Pearson chi-square and independent sample t-test analyses were used to compare genders. Finally, interviews were conducted with female middle school students (N= 8) to obtain in-depth information on their perceptions and attitudes towards robots, technology and the science. Results showed that middle school students exhibited positive attitudes towards robots, careers in robotics, science and technology. In many respects, female student attitudes were more positive than their male counter parts. Due to the motivation robotics enhanced instruction provides as well as the subtle way robotic implementation teaches computer programming, mathematics and creative problem solving, it is recommended that activities incorporating robotics be a part of every science curriculum

Possible Self Dynamics of Community College Students Engaged in 3D Printing in Informal Environments

The overall number of students from diverse backgrounds and women that graduate from community college with degrees in high paying Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines is unacceptably low. The number of opportunities to gain exposure to STEM-based expressions of technology to overcome the dearth of exposure in high school is limited in community college. 3D Printing uses computer-controlled machines to build physical objects one layer at a time starting from the bottom up. The computer-controlled nature of 3D Printing provides a low risk, low cost platform to exercise elements of computer programming and engineering. This study was a phenomenological, qualitative study that was designed to fully describe the process of community college student engagement with 3D Printing. There were three data collection components in the study; first was an initial interview combined with naturalistic observation. Second was recorded documentation in the form of 3D printed objects that students produced. Third was a culminating interview of the participants after they had engaged in a critical number of 3D Printing activities. The results of the study were overwhelming. Students who aspired to be engineers used the lab to sharpen their skills in a low-stakes, high reward setting. Students who worked in the lab expressed greater confidence in their STEM skills. Students considered changing their majors to STEM academic courses of study from social science. Female students overcame a lifetime of counter-messages about women in STEM. Finally, a mountain biking component was designed, manufactured, and field tested by an aspiring engineer who had yet to take a single course in the college engineering curriculum. Based on the findings, it is recommended that 3D Printing be applied more broadly in student supported, peer educated lab settings. STEM majors, in particular engineering and computer science students see a great value in using the machines. Long term study of the retention and graduation rates of students who engage in 3D Printing will be useful for colleges and universities who seek to increase the number of graduating STEM majors at their institutions

Perception of learning science: the case of females offering STEM majors in Ghana

The study investigated the differences among female students pursuing selected STEM programmes in a Science and Technology university in Ghana, in their perception of learning science. Three hundred and twenty-eight (328) final year female students offering computer science and information and communication technology, engineering, pharmacy, and medicine formed the sample. The research design was a descriptive cross-sectional survey, and a questionnaire was utilised for data collection. The reliability coefficient obtained using Cronbach alpha formula was 0.85. The study discovered that female students in STEM majors were goal-oriented and extraordinarily impressive with their academics however lacked the capacity to have fun as a result of the loaded curriculum. Again, the study showed specific differences in self-perception among students of the four STEM majors, when analysed using ANOVA and Post hoc analyses. It was revealed that pregnancy is no longer a barrier to educate the girl child as a result of unique interventions put in place by the government of Ghana. It was recommended among others that the Ghana Education Service intensifies the STEM training Clinics in the rural areas of Ghana to enhance rural female students’ involvement in STEM Majors at Tertiary level

An Overview of the New ACM/IEEE Information Technology Curricular Framework

ACM and IEEE have developed a curricular report titled, “Information Technology Curricula 2017: Curriculum Guidelines for Baccalaureate Degree Programs in Information Technology,” known also as IT2017. The development of this report has received worldwide content contributions from industry and academia through surveys as well as many international conferences and workshops. An open online publication of the report was made available in December 2017. This paper presents a digest of the content of the report, the IT curricular framework, and suggestions for its use in developing new information technology programs or enhancing existing ones. The heart of the IT curricular framework is a set of competencies identified through knowledge, skills, and dispositions, as supported by pedagogical research. The paper also describes ways in which institutions could use the curricular framework not only to develop information technology degree programs, but also to improve and enhance related computing programs

Integrating mobile robotics and vision with undergraduate computer science

This paper describes the integration of robotics education into an undergraduate Computer Science curriculum. The proposed approach delivers mobile robotics as well as covering the closely related field of Computer Vision, and is directly linked to the research conducted at the authors’ institution. The paper describes the most relevant details of the module content and assessment strategy, paying particular attention to the practical sessions using Rovio mobile robots. The specific choices are discussed that were made with regard to the mobile platform, software libraries and lab environment. The paper also presents a detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis of student results, including the correlation between student engagement and performance, and discusses the outcomes of this experience

ACM/IEEE-CS information technology curriculum 2017: A status update

The IT2008 Curriculum Guidelines for Undergraduate Degree Programs in Information Technology has been showing its age, and in 2014, the ACM Education Board agreed to oversee the creation of a revision, now being referred to as IT2017. Much progress has been made, and a version 0.6 will be ready by Oct 2016. All proposed panel members are members of the IT2017 Task Group

Closing the gap between software engineering education and industrial needs

According to different reports, many recent software engineering graduates often face difficulties when beginning their professional careers, due to misalignment of the skills learnt in their university education with what is needed in industry. To address that need, many studies have been conducted to align software engineering education with industry needs. To synthesize that body of knowledge, we present in this paper a systematic literature review (SLR) which summarizes the findings of 33 studies in this area. By doing a meta-analysis of all those studies and using data from 12 countries and over 4,000 data points, this study will enable educators and hiring managers to adapt their education / hiring efforts to best prepare the software engineering workforce