The case of prospective teachers’ integration of coding-robotics practices into science teaching with STEM approach

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the level of integration of teacher candidates’ acquisitions in course of “Coding and Robotics in Primary School” into the science teaching; and to explore teacher candidates’ opinions on coding- robotics and the usage of them in lessons. For this purpose, a case study with 11 junior prospective primary school teachers was conducted in 2017-18 education year. After the participants took “Coding and robotics in primary school” at fall semester, they were asked to make STEM-based teaching by using robotic applications in the scope of the course of “Science and Technology Teaching II”. Participants’ teaching was rated with rubrics prepared by the researchers, and their lesson plans were analyzed through document analysis. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted to take the opinions of the participants on usage of robotics. The results showed that prospective teachers were mainly able to integrate robotics to the STEM-based science teaching. Additionally, prospective teachers suggested that robotics should be integrated to all courses, especially science, and that this would contribute to the problem solving and algorithmic thinking skills of the students.