Search Results (3)

Women remain underrepresented in engineering and broadening participation has recently become the focus of education reform efforts. Increased emphasis on K-12 engineering education calls for the design of learning environments and curricula that increase interest and conceptual understanding of engineering work, beginning in the early years of childhood. We seek to understand what works, for whom, in what contexts, how it works, and how engineering curricula can be improved to promote social justice. Here, we evaluate the impact of a curricular intervention designed to promote equity in elementary engineering education. The integrated STEM curriculum unit engages first-grade students in programming a cookie-jar alarm. Using a KIBO robot, students program a distance sensor to trigger the alarm and customize the sounds and flashing lights. Students’ pre-/post-drawings of ‘engineers at work’ were used to elicit reflection in semi-structured interviews, and to assess changes in students’ conceptions of engineering work following the curricular intervention. A mixed analysis of the data revealed students’ conceptual understanding of engineering work improved following the two-week curricular intervention, regardless of gender. However, the girls in the study were more likely than boys to identify as an engineer following the programming design task. We discuss the students’ self-reported explanations and elements of the intervention that may have facilitated conceptual change. We recommend that, to promote equity in engineering education, “gender-responsive” curricula are essential. Full article

Robotics is one of the key learnings in a world where learners will interact with multiple robotic technologies and operating systems throughout their lives. However, school teachers, especially in the elementary and primary education stages, often have difficulties incorporating these tools in the classroom. Four elementary teachers in three schools in Catalonia were trained to introduce robotics in the classroom to seventy-five students. The main actions consisted in classroom accompaniment by a university-trained support teacher, curricular materials’ development, and assessment of the students’ and teachers’ learning. The designed contents and evaluation criteria took into account the potential of educational robotics to improve soft skills and to promote Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) interdisciplinary learning. Teachers perceived the training to be supportive and useful and ended the school year feeling confident with the used robotic platform (KIBO). The assessment of the students’ learning showed an average mark of 7.1–7.7 over 10 in the final evaluation criteria. Moreover, students’ learning was higher in the classes where the teachers had higher initial interest in the training. We present and analyse the actions carried out, with a critical and constructive look at extending the experience to other educational centers. Full article

Computational thinking and coding are key competencies in the 21st century. People with Down syndrome need to be part of this new literacy. For this reason, in this work, we present an exploratory study carried out with students with Down syndrome with cognitive ages of 3–6 years old using a tangible robot We applied the observational method during the sessions to analyze the participants’ emotional states, engagement, and comprehension of the programming sequences. Results show that people with cognitive disabilities can acquire basic programming and computational skills using tangible robots such as KIBO. Full article