Perceptions of professional and educational skills learning opportunities made available through k-12 robotics programming

摘要

The purpose of this study is to examine whether participation in robotics provides opportunities for educational and professional skill development, significant enough to merit the recommendation of robotics courses as a part of mainstream curriculum offerings in K-12 schools. This non-experimental, mixed methods study examined current junior high and high school robotics learning environments for educational value. Triangulation of three data sources (an online survey and two case studies) was conducted using related survey instruments. Robotics curriculum was found to be accessible and inexpensive for undergraduate students. Robotics programming was found to be an educationally viable tool at the undergraduate level, which could be used to develop student's skills in science, technology, education, and mathematics, as well as skills in professional areas such as time management, problem solving, communication, and teamwork. This study additionally looks at how robotics participation can be used to encourage more students to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers.