Promoting Robotic Design and Entrepreneurship Experiences among Students and Teachers

该项目将开发、实施和评估一项倡议，以促进学生和教师的机器人设计和创业经验。每年，来自纽约所有5个区的8所高中的16名教师和32名学生将参加为期四周的暑期学院，包括两周的指导培训和两周的协作机器人产品开发。参与者将主要来自服务不足社区的学校，这些社区的学生群体在社会、经济、种族和民族方面都很多样化；大约一半的参与者将是女性。在学年期间，每所学校的两位老师将为至少25名学生开设机器人课程。课堂采用将通过专业学习社区（PLC）促进。在一年一度的总决赛中，各校团队将在机器人产品设计和商业创意大赛中展开角逐，该竞赛仿造了由纽约大学坦顿工程学院孵化器计划协调的创新/发明大赛。在为期3年的项目期间，来自24所高中的48名教师和96名学生将参加为期160小时的暑期课程。通过学年选修课，教师将在项目资助期间吸引1200名学生。该项目组建了一个跨学科团队，包括机器人、创业、K-12课程设计和评估方面的专家，以支持项目的设计和实施。该项目设计采用了基于项目的学习（PBL）、K-12 STEM教育中的机器人和创业、社会认知职业理论和教师专业发展等方面的研究特点，嵌入在PLC中。在PBL框架中制定机器人活动将帮助参与者学习内容，发展计划和解决问题的技能，并培养他们的高阶认知技能。PBL与创业活动的整合将解决参与者对失败的恐惧、缺乏信心、创造力和沟通技巧。教师专业发展的设计将支持通过内容沉浸式培训的转移，允许对所需技能的建模和排练，并让教师参与足够的时间来支持新学习的认知需求。该项目将研究一个广泛的首要问题：通过PBL体验的机器人设计和创业活动是否对教师实践和学生成绩产生积极影响？该项目将调查参与是否(1)建立教师有效利用PBL的能力，在机器人和创业的背景下，促进STEM学习；(2)积极影响学生的自我效能感，结果期望，目标，以及对STEM研究和职业的兴趣。该项目由学生和教师创新技术体验（ITEST）项目资助，该项目支持建立对最佳实践、项目要素、背景和流程的理解，有助于吸引学生学习和培养对STEM、信息和通信技术（ICT）、计算机科学以及相关STEM内容和职业的兴趣。

The project will develop, implement, and assess an initiative to promote robotic design and entrepreneurship experiences among students and teachers. Each year, 16 teachers and 32 students from 8 high schools located in all 5 boroughs of New York will attend a 4-week summer institute consisting of a 2-week guided training and a 2-week collaborative robotic-product development. The participants will come primarily from schools in underserved neighborhoods with socially, economically, racially, and ethnically diverse student bodies; approximately half of the participants will be female. During the academic year, each school's two teachers will conduct a robotics course for at least 25 students. Classroom adoption will be facilitated through a professional learning community (PLC). In the annual grand finale, school teams will compete in a robot product design and business idea contest, modeled after the Inno/Vention contest coordinated by the Incubator Initiatives of NYU Tandon School of Engineering. Over the 3-year project duration, 48 teachers and 96 students from 24 high schools will participate in the summer institute with 160 contact hours. Through the academic year elective, teachers will engage 1,200 students during the project funding period. The project has formed an interdisciplinary team including experts in robotics, entrepreneurship, K-12 curriculum design, and assessment to support project design and implementation. The project design adapts features from research on project-based learning (PBL), robotics and entrepreneurship in K-12 STEM education, social cognitive career theory, and teacher professional development embedded in a PLC. Formulating robotics activities in a PBL framework will help participants learn content, develop planning and problem-solving skills, and foster their higher-order cognitive skills. Integration of PBL with entrepreneurship activities will address participant fear of failure, lack of confidence, and creativity and communication skills. The design of the teacher professional development will support transfer of training through content-immersion, allow modeling and rehearsing of desired skills, and involve teachers for a sufficient duration to support the cognitive demands of new learning. The project will research the broad overarching question: Do robotics design and entrepreneurship activities, experienced through PBL, positively influence teacher practices and student outcomes? The project will investigate if participation (1) builds teacher capacity to effectively utilize PBL, contextualized in robotics and entrepreneurship, to promote STEM learning and (2) positively impacts students self-efficacy, outcome expectations, goals, and interest in STEM studies and careers. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program that supports projects that build understandings of best practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to engaging students in learning and developing interest in STEM, information and communications technology (ICT), computer science, and related STEM content and careers.