The Impact of Educational Robotics on Student STEM Learning, Attitudes, and Workplace Skills

Publications

This chapter discusses findings from a National Science Foundation (NSF) project funded by the Innovative Technologies Experiences for Student and Teachers (ITEST) program. The project has an ongoing research agenda focusing on the impact of robotics summer camps and competitions targeted at middle school youth. The research focused on the impact of the interventions on youth a) learning of computer programming, mathematics, and engineering concepts, b) science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) attitudes, c) workplace skills, and d) STEM career interest. Results show that robotics

Read More

PASCI Student Self-Concept Inventory

Instruments

The Personal and Academic Self-Concept Inventory (PASCI) measures global, social, physical, and academic components of self-concept, as well as social anxiety. It is a 45-item instrument for middle and secondary school students, and college students. Participants can respond on a continuum, ranging from “practically never” to “very often.”

Read More

Reconstructing the Pupils Attitude Towards Technology-Survey

Instruments

In knowledge based economies technological literacy is gaining interest. Technological literacy correlates with attitude towards technology. When measuring technological literacy as an outcome of education, the attitudinal dimension has to be taken into account. This requires a valid, reliable instrument that should be as concise as possible, in order to use it in correlation with other instruments. The PATT instrument as developed in the nineties is an extensive survey that hasn’t been revalidated over the last three decades. The Pupils’ Attitudes Towards Technology (PATT) instrument was

Read More

Student Engagement and its Relationship with Early High School Dropout

Instruments

Although the concept of school engagement figures prominently in most school dropout theories, there has been little empirical research conducted on its nature and course and, more importantly, the association with dropout. Information on the natural development of school engagement would greatly benefit those interested in preventing student alienation during adolescence. Using a longitudinal sample of 11,827 French-Canadian high school students, we tested behavioral, affective, cognitive indices of engagement both separately and as a global construct. We then assessed their contribution as

Read More

Measuring Experiences of Interest-related Pursuits in Connected Learning

Instruments

This paper describes an effort to develop a survey instrument capable of measuring important aspects of adolescents’ experiences of interest-related pursuits that are supported by technology. The measure focuses on youths’ experiences of connected learning (Ito et al. in Connected learning: an agenda for research and design. Digital Media and Learning Research Hub, Irvine, 2013), an emerging model of learning across settings supported by digital media. Specifically, the instrument aims to measure the depth with which youth are able to engage in an interest-related pursuit, the level of support

Read More

An Instrument to Measure Students’ Motivation and Self‐Regulation in Science Learning

Instruments

Students’ motivational beliefs and self‐regulatory practices have been identified as instrumental in influencing the engagement of students in the learning process. An important aim of science education is to empower students by nurturing the belief that they can succeed in science learning and to cultivate the adaptive learning strategies required to help to bring about that success. This article reports the development and validation of an instrument to measure salient factors related to the motivation and self‐regulation of students in lower secondary science classrooms. The development of

Read More

NSF Computer Science for All (CSforAll:RPP) Researcher Practitioner Partnerships

Opportunities
This program aims to provide all U.S. students the opportunity to participate in computer science (CS) and computational thinking (CT) education in their schools at the preK-12 levels. With this solicitation, the National Science Foundation (NSF) focuses on researcher-practitioner partnerships (RPPs) that foster the research and development needed to bring CS and CT to all schools.
Read More

MSPNet Webinar: Challenges in the CS classroom: Perspectives from students with learning and attention disorders

Event

Efforts to expand K-12 computer science (CS) education opportunities across the U.S. include the new AP Computer Science Principles (CSP) course, designed to attract a wide range of learners and broaden participation in the study of CS. An important step in diversifying participation in CS broadly involves understanding the range of challenges students face in the CSP course, and finding ways to address those challenges to support learning for all.

Read More

NSF INCLUDES Alliances Solicitation

Opportunities

NSF has released a new Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES) solicitation targeting NSF INCLUDES Alliances.

With this solicitation, NSF invites proposals for NSF INCLUDES Alliances, which form the central parts of the NSF INCLUDES National Network. The NSF National Network aims to change the national landscape for broadening participation in STEM fields.

The critical functions of each NSF INCLUDES Alliance are to:

Read More