Attitudinal Differences towards Robotics Competitions of Male and Female Students Participating in a Southeastern State Robotics Competition

Some of the most dynamic and demanding careers are in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). However, when analyzing gender, there are great disparities among gender in STEM. Statistics indicate females are vastly underrepresented and males are employed double the rate of females. Leading STEM companies are creatively trying to attract future STEM laborers by means of science and engineering competitions. The purpose of this quantitative causal comparative study was to investigate if there are differences in attitudes between male and female students participating in a robotics competition. A convenience sample of public school students (N = 194) from grades 7-12 that participated in a southeastern state robotics competition were used in this study. The sample consisted of 69 females and 125 males. The researcher administered a modified version of the Student’s Attitude toward Science Fairs Survey customized for use at a robotics competition. The instrument measured students’ overall attitudes toward science and engineering competitions and further explored two constructs: usefulness (utility value) and enjoyment (intrinsic value) of the competition. A one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to determine if differences existed between male and female students’ attitudes towards science and engineering competitions and results were disclosed. The MANOVA results determined that there are no significant differences found among male and female students and their enjoyment, value (usefulness), and total (overall attitude) values towards a robotics competition, Wilks’s Λ = 1.00, F(2, 191) = 0.10, p \u3e .05, partial η2 = 0.001. Thus, the researcher failed to reject the null hypothesis. Implications of this investigation and future recommendations for future studies were discussed

Уральский федеральный университет — 2013: События, изменившие университет: фотоальбом

Издание представляет собой альбом фотографий, наиболее ярко иллюстрирующих важнейшие события в жизни ФГАОУ ВПО «Уральский федеральный университет имени первого Президента России Б. Н. Ельцина», которые происходили в 2013 году. Все изображения снабжены комментариями о самих событиях и о тех людях, которые представлены на снимках. В гостях у студентов, аспирантов и преподавателей УрФУ побывали известные ученые, политики, общественные деятели, представители других вузов России и мира и многие другие. Фотоальбом будет интересен тем, кто непосредственно участвует в жизни университета, а также всем, кому не чужды размышления о роли современных университетов в жизни общества

Selected papers on Hands-on Science II

This second volume of the "Selected Papers on Hands-on Science" the Hands-on Science Network is publishing, reunites some of the most relevant works presented at the 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 editions of the annual International Conference on Hands-on Science. From pre-school science education to lifelong science learning and teacher training, in formal non-formal and informal contexts, the large diversified range of works that conforms this book surely renders it an important tool to schools and educators and all involved in science education and on the promotion of scientific literacy.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Self-Directed Learning Development in PBL

Lifelong learning is an emphasized graduate outcome for engineering professionals at the international level by the Washington Accord and at the United States national level by ABET. When a new engineer enters the profession, she will be expected to acquire new technical knowledge in order to solve a problem or create a design. Unlike her experience in college, there will not be a professor to guide this learning. The planning, execution, monitoring, and control of this learning will now fall to the new engineer. The level of the ability to succeed in this self-directed learning modality will be a function of the extent to which the lifelong learning outcome has been met. This paper studies the importance of this graduate outcome and the development of self-directed learning as the way in which the outcome is achieved. Quantitative measures are taken using the Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale. Quantitative results show a statistically significant difference between the developments of self-regulated abilities by students in a two-year PBL curriculum as compared to students who did not undergo the PBL treatment