Pierre Van Cortlandt Middle School Promotes Student STEM Interest

Abstract

The principal purpose of this investigation is to study the effect of robotic cooperative learning methodologies on middle school students’ critical thinking, and STEM interest. The semi-experimental inquiry consisted of ninety four six-grade students (forty nine students in the experimental group, forty five students in the control group), chosen by their principals. A critical thinking test was administered to evaluate the cognitive skills and STEM interest of the students. Instruction was implemented in two formats: cooperative learning and problem-based learning. The experimental group utilized robotic cooperative learning while the control group utilized problem-based learning. After four sessions of both instruction types with both groups the findings reveal that critical thinking of students is enhanced significantly by robotic cooperative learning (P<0.01).