This paper describes the findings of a pilot study that used robotics and game design to develop middle school students’ computational thinking strategies. One hundred and twenty-four students engaged in LEGO® EV3 robotics and created games using Scalable Game Design software.
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Publication
This research report presents the results of a STEM summer program on robotics and game design. The program was part of a three-year study funded by the National Science Foundation.
Computational thinking (CT) is broadly defined as the mental activity for abstracting problems and formulating solutions that can be automated. In an increasingly information-based society, CT is becoming an essential skill for everyone.
The challenges of addressing increasing calls for the inclusion of computational thinking skills in K-12 education in the midst of crowded school curricula can be mitigated, in part, by promoting STEM learning in after-school settings.
This article examines teacher preparation and teacher change in engineering and computer science education.
This paper describes the findings of a pilot study that used robotics and game design to develop middle school students’ computational thinking strategies. One hundred and twenty-four students engaged in LEGO® EV3 robotics and created games using Scalable Game Design software.
The ITEST program has enabled creativity, experimentation, and cultural responsiveness in STEM education and workforce development and broadened participation in STEM initiatives to Native American communities, underresourced urban communities, girls, and populations underrepresented in STEM
Instruments
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In this chapter, I discuss the development, piloting and revision of a new instrument for measuring pre/post the academic self-efficacy of students.
The Upper Elementary (4-5th) and the Middle and High School (6-12th) Student Attitudes toward STEM Surveys (S-STEM) each contain four scales (sets of surveys items that most confidently describe a single characteristic of the survey-taker when the responses to these items are calculated as a
BACKGROUND If we are to effect change in teacher practices and decision making regarding instruction, college preparation, and career success in engineering, then knowledge of teachers’ beliefs and expectations about engineering needs to be understood.
A computational thinking survey was designed to assess K-12 education students’ attitudes toward computer science and their understanding of computational thinking before and after implemenation of a computational thinking (CT) module.
Spatial ability is required in technical and design jobs where drawing and plans are used, for example; architecture, surveying, engineering, and design.
The Culturally Responsive Teaching Self-Efficacy Scale (CRTSE) was developed and administered to a sample of preservice teachers in the Midwest.
The Culturally Responsive Teaching Outcome Expectancy (CRTOE) Scale was developed and administered to a sample of preservice teachers in the Midwest.
Learning.com's 21st Century Skills Assessment provides deeper insight into students' grasp of critical 21st century skills.
The Self-Efficacy in Technology and Science (SETS) is a specific measure of self-efficacy in science inquiry and technology for middle school students. The SETS consists of six independent sections on self-efficacy in science inquiry and technology (science inquiry
News
STELAR collaborated with ITEST projects on a number of conference symposium proposals during 2014 for the 2015 conference year. We are thrilled that these three proposals have been selected so far.
ITEST project Visualization Basics will explore whether gaming and robotics be used to teach computational thinking skills to middle school students in culturally sensitive ways.
As part of ITEST project Visualization Basics, team members will train teachers from middle schools in at least 10 Wyoming school districts to develop mathematical and scientific lessons that are culturally relevant to their students. Project staff will support
A multidisciplinary team from the UW Colleges of Education, Engineering, and Arts and Sciences to research whether gaming and robotics can be used to teach computational thinking skills to middle school students in culturally sensitive ways through ITEST project