Analysis Of Middle And High School Students’ Learning Of Science, Mathematics, And Engineering Concepts Through A Lego Underwater Robotics Design Challenge

Abstract

The Build IT project is a university-school collaboration to increase precollege student interest and achievement in engineering, science, mathematics, and information technology through a novel underwater robotics project that utilizes LEGO Mindstorms kits, the NXT programmable brick, and related equipment. The project is being implemented in 36 socio-economically and academically diverse schools for students in Grades 7-12. Through a series of increasingly complex challenges, Build IT exposes students to science, mathematics, and engineering concepts such as buoyancy, Newton’s Laws, momentum, density, gear ratios, torque, forces, energy, volume, mass-weight distribution and simple machines. During the first year of classroom implementation, teams of students in a variety of classroom settings used LEGO components, wire-guided switches, motors and other equipment to design, construct, and control robots to maneuver in a 3-4 foot deep pool. This paper will explore the impact of the project on the students, specifically, changes in understanding of the key science concepts embedded in the curriculum and changes in knowledge about, and attitudes toward, engineering. It will also explore gender differences in attitudes toward the engineering aspects of the curriculum and in the pedagogical strategies embedded in the curriculum, including hands-on learning and group work. Theoretical Framework Robotics has been demonstrated as an effective vehicle to teach STEM concepts at many levels. The theoretical foundation for using robotics in education has been put forth by Jonassen, who described cognitive tools or “mindtools” 1 that can enhance the learning process. Others have posited that robotics enables students to creatively explore computer programming, mechanical design and construction, problem solving, and collaboration, 2, 3 as well as the ability to present open-ended problems that require integrative thinking. 4 Robotics enables students to own their learning as they make choices and explore many paths in order to solve design challenges. Through the use of LEGO robotics technology, students learn various facets of problem solving while simultaneously mastering numerous mathematical and scientific concepts. Riskowski et al. identified three components that engineering design brings to the study of science (in middle school settings), which support our theoretical framework: (1) interaction: engagement and relationship-building among groups to design-build-test an apparatus, whereby the individual contributions to a collective product or process is paramount; (2) artifact development: developing an artifact fosters the display of the groups’ communal knowledge as embodied in the artifact; and (3) critical analysis: a process of individual, small-group, and largegroup (whole class) continual learning as designs are critiqued and improvements are suggested/tested. 5 More specifically, designing robots encompasses elements of the engineering design process, and particularly, iterative design. Posing open-ended design challenges in the context of designing and testing robotic devices is consistent with theories of problem-based learning (PBL). A growing body of research suggests that PBL, engineering curricula, and “design-based science” are effective means of increasing students’ conceptual understanding of science (and mathematics), their long-term retention of learning, and their abstraction or transfer of learning. Several studies conducted at the middle school level indicate that design-based activities result in significant gains in student understanding of science concepts 6, 7 and science skills, 8 as well as decreasing the achievement gap between some demographic groups. 9, 10, 11 Studies conducted in high school science classrooms using design-based curriculum provide evidence that these activities result in significant gains in student understanding of science concepts 12, 13 and may decrease the achievement gap between some demographic groups. 14, 15 Several studies 16, 17, 18 have documented the impact of educational robotics on student learning of STEM concepts in informal learning environments.