Exploring the Development of Pre-Service Teachers\u27 Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Integrating Computational Thinking and Robotics into the Classroom

This paper presents an introductory computational thinking (CT) module that can be implemented into teacher education curricula. The researchers examined how the integration of CT and robotics instruction into an undergraduate instructional technology course influenced pre-service teachers\u27 understanding of CT and robotics and their attitudes towards adopting these tools in their future classrooms. The online module was developed as a result of a collaboration between computer science and education faculty from two universities. A total of 93 students participated in the study. The course was delivered during the spring, summer, and fall semesters of 2020 via distance learning at a large public university located in Florida. Data for this study were collected using a pre-and post-test survey that was created with Qualtrics software. This paper describes how the CT and robotics concepts were taught and examines the influence of the instruction on participants\u27 knowledge and attitudes of CT and robotics and their integration into the classroom

Elementary College and Career Readiness Curriculum: A School Counselor Intervention

Labor market projections indicate that across all industries, jobs will require increased post-secondary education, credentials, and training requirements. The U.S. will not have the workers that meet these requirements, resulting in a worker shortage. Knowing this predicted shift, our current education system is charged with the responsibility of educating and preparing students for these positions and to fill the needs of our society. Career development is a lifelong process beginning in childhood, and school counselors are responsible for supporting this healthy development. Despite this call to action, there is a of lack content, resources, or evidence-based programs available for elementary career counseling interventions. This project explores and combines the developmental needs of elementary students and effective implementation strategies for healthy career growth to create a ready-to-use fourth grade Tier One intervention for school counselors. All necessary resources are included for lesson plans, career day facilitation, and parent/guardian involvement. Data collection procedures within the unit will facilitate the creation of evidence for school counselors and researchers to more effectively advance the elementary career development field, advocate for elementary school counseling, and implement evidence-based career counseling interventions

Learning Dimensions: Lessons from Field Studies

In this paper, we describe work to investigate the creation of engaging programming learning experiences. Background research informed the design of four fieldwork studies involving a range of age groups to explore how programming tasks could best be framed to motivate learners. Our empirical findings from these four studies, described here, contributed to the design of a set of programming "Learning Dimensions" (LDs). The LDs provide educators with insights to support key design decisions for the creation of engaging programming learning experiences. This paper describes the background to the identification of these LDs and how they could address the design and delivery of highly engaging programming learning tasks. A web application has been authored to support educators in the application of the LDs to their lesson design

Undergraduate Engineering and Education Students Reflect on Their Interdisciplinary Teamwork Experiences Following Transition to Virtual Instruction Caused by COVID-19

This study explores undergraduate engineering and education students’ perspectives on their interdisciplinary teams throughout the rapid transition to online learning and instruction from a face-to-face to a virtual format. In this qualitative study, students’ reflections and focus groups from three interdisciplinary collaborations were analyzed using the lens of Social Cognitive Theory. COVID-19 created a dramatic change in the environment such that the most immediate and direct impact on students’ experiences was on the environmental aspects of Bandura’s triadic reciprocal determinism model, which then triggered behavioral and personal responses to adapt to the new environment. Subsequent evidence of reciprocal effects between environmental, behavioral, and personal factors took place as students continued to adapt. Results suggest that the modifications made to transition the project fully online were meaningful experiences for students’ learning and teaching of engineering through teams. This interdisciplinary partnership provided both pre-service teachers and undergraduate engineering students with the opportunity to learn and practice content and professional skills that will be essential for success in future work environments

Implementing teacher-centered robotics activities in science lessons: The effect on motivation, satisfaction and science skills

In studies on the use of robotic in science education, students are generally expected to design and program robots in specially designed robotic laboratories and during extracurricular activities. Although researchers claim that the student-centered approach and active student participation is more effective, teachers generally have to apply traditional teaching strategies in the field of science education due to the high number of students, a lack of materials, insufficient time and lack of professional teaching skills. Robotics activities can be performed in a traditional classroom environment and within a teacher-centered lesson structure. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of teacher-centered robotics activities performed in science lessons on students' motivation, to determine their satisfaction with the activities and to collect their opinions about the activities. A parallel mixed-methods design was used for data collection. The results of the study indicated that teacher-centered robotics activities increased the motivation of students to participate in science lessons. Moreover, when the interviews with the students were examined, all of them commented that engaging in robotics activities improved their science skills. In addition, the majority of students were satisfied with the robotics activities and had positive feelings about them, believing that they helped them to learn and were enjoyable and interesting

Computer-Assisted Instruction in Elementary Classrooms: Student-Teacher Relationships and Teacher Role Through the Implementation of Computer-Adaptive Instruction Programs

Classroom computer integration and the proliferation of computer-adaptive learning programs in K -12 schools continue to advance. Academic success, as well as the social and emotional well-being of students, is critical in American schools and the role of the teacher and student-teacher relationships impact these academic, social, and emotional factors. The integration of computer-adaptive learning programs into America’s elementary classrooms impacts the role of the teacher and relationships between teachers and students, placing a priority on the study of these programs and their effects. The purpose of this research was to examine how teachers perceive their role and relationships with students in classrooms where computer-adaptive programs have been introduced. This study fills an existing gap in the literature by exploring the changes taking place within classrooms that have implemented modern computer adaptive programs and identifying how teacher role and student-teacher relationships are affected. The following two research questions helped guide this study (a) How is teacher role impacted through the implementation of computer-adaptive instruction programs? (b) How do teachers perceive their student-teacher relationships through the implementation of computer-adaptive instruction programs? This inductive qualitative study used participant interviews and classroom observations to examine seven teachers’ perceptions and experiences of computer-adaptive program use. Eight main themes emerged that provide insight to help understand the dynamics occurring in today’s elementary computer-adaptive-classrooms. Five themes emerged to describe teacher role: Teachers as personal instructors, individualized instruction, teacher trust in and deference to programs, role shift from learning facilitator to program assigner, and teacher as classroom and instructional leader. Three central themes emerged to describe student-teacher relationships while using commuteradaptive programs: Teacher proximity, communication, and support. Elementary teacher perceptions of their role and relationships with students through the implementation of computer-adaptive math programs were framed using the Actor- Network Theory to model the connections between teachers, students, and programs within computer-adaptive classroom networks. Upon considering these connections, educators and education leaders will be better informed when implementing or choosing not to implement computer-adaptive instruction. Education leaders should be mindful, throughout the implementation of any education technology program, that the programs in use can have both positive and negative effects on the role of the teacher in the classroom. Without an understanding of the role shift of teachers who integrate computer-adaptive programs, school leaders risk disenfranchising the very people who are needed to maintain positive and healthy interpersonal relationships within school walls

COVID-19 as a Magnifying Glass: Exploring the Importance of Relationships as Education Students Learn and Teach Robotics via Zoom

Ed+gineering, an NSF-funded program, adapted hands-on robotics instruction for online delivery in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This qualitative multiple case study shares the experiences of participating education students in spring 2021 as they collaborated virtually with engineering students and fifth graders to engineer bioinspired robots in an afterschool technology club adapted to be virtual. The online context reduced the education students’ interactions with people other than the engineering students and fifth graders on their team and thus positioned COVID-19 as a metaphorical magnifying glass amplifying the critical role that these relationships played in influencing the project’s outcomes. Through analyzing short-answer reflections, the researchers observed patterns in the ways the education students’ interactions with their engineering and fifth-grade partners shaped their teaching self-efficacy and intention to integrate engineering and coding. Education students appeared to gain the most self-efficacy from feeling supported by, but not dependent upon, their engineering partners, and from adopting engineering-teaching roles. Satisfying interactions with fifth graders and successful production of functioning robots appeared to enhance education students’ intention to integrate engineering and coding into their future instruction. Education students reported gaining self-efficacy for both engineering and coding during the experience, but were more likely to report feeling confident about teaching engineering than teaching coding at the project’s end. Implications and lessons learned are shared, which may be particularly relevant for educators who prepare elementary education students to teach engineering in K-6 settings

The Effect of Project ProHEART- Promoting Healthy Eating and Activity using Robot-assisted Training- on Healthy Eating Habits and Physical Activity in School-Aged Children

The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a 6 week afterschool nutrition and physical activity intervention administered by a registered dietitian with the help of a humanoid robot targeting elementary school aged children aged 6-12 years. The study was conducted across four Young Men’s Christian’s Association (YMCA) sites in Miami-Dade County, Florida (N= 114, Mean age: 8.16 ±1.57 years) using a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design via randomly assigned intervention (two sites; n=63) and comparison groups (two sites; n=51). The validated Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH) kids club questionnaire and the validated Previous Day Physical Activity Recall (PDPAR) were used to assess nutrition and physical activity knowledge, attitudes/beliefs and behavior change. The Inbody 230 instrument (Biospace, California) was used to calculate body composition and weight. Body Mass Index (BMI) percentiles and associated BMI z-scores for age and gender were calculated based on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) growth charts. Data measures were collected at baseline (week 0) and one-week post intervention (week 7). Statistical analysis included independent t-test, paired t-test, chi-squared test, Wilcoxon signed ranks test and logistic regression. Results indicated that nutrition knowledge score significantly increased from 67.43% ±21.03 to 81.31% ±18.47 in the intervention group (