Supporting Elementary Students’ Computer Science Skills and Interest through Engagement with Low-cost, Adaptable Robots

这一设计和开发项目将开发低成本、适应性强的物理计算工具，为小学生提供公平的学习计算机科学技能和概念的机会，以反映国家和州各级对将计算机科学(CS)融入小学课堂的呼声日益高涨。物理计算工具，如机器人，可以帮助儿童发展对CS的理解；然而，目前小学教师可用的大多数机器人相对昂贵，并且在允许学生学习哪些概念和学习如何发生方面提供的灵活性很小。该研究旨在了解学生和教师为活动带来的资产，并收集学生和教师对实施的反馈，以改进机器人设计。该项目的目标是使用通用学习设计(UDL)来创造一种更能响应中小学教室中学生能力范围的机器人，这一目标具有潜在的变革性。该项目旨在帮助学生发展CS和执行职能技能，如自我控制和规划，这对学校的成功和STEM成功的职业生涯至关重要。它还旨在帮助教师在将CS内容整合到他们与学生的日常工作中时培养信心和流利性。该项目建立在之前的合作基础上，这些合作产生了一个低成本的工作原型，该原型适用于从幼儿园到中学甚至更远的地方，以实现“低地板和高天花板”的功能和可扩展性。这项研究将在弗吉尼亚州学区的城市和农村小学教室实施以机器人为特色的活动，以调查学生CS和执行职能技能的发展，以及学生对STEM和信息和通信技术(ICT)职业的兴趣。该项目将使用基于设计的研究方法来探索教师如何在课堂上搭建CS学习活动的脚手架，以及如何为K-12、3-5和6-8年级的残疾学生和非残疾学生创造教育机器人和相关材料。该项目旨在与18名中小学教师合作，让1700多名学生使用机器人并开展相关活动。该项目的预期成果包括提高儿童对CS的理解和执行功能技能，通过将CS融入他们的课堂来提高教师的自我效能，以及为残疾和非残疾学生设计一套教育机器人的原则。所有项目材料，包括活动、机器人设计和建造说明，都将在项目网站和Github上公开提供。该项目由学生和教师创新技术体验计划(ITEST)资助，该计划支持建立对实践、计划要素、背景和过程的理解的项目，这些项目有助于提高学生对科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)以及信息和通信技术(ICT)职业的知识和兴趣。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Reflecting increasing calls at the national and state-levels for computer science (CS) to be integrated into elementary school classrooms, this design and development project will develop low-cost, adaptable physical computing tools to provide equitable opportunities for elementary students to learn CS skills and concepts. Physical computing tools, such as robots, can help children develop CS understanding; however, most robots currently available to elementary teachers are relatively expensive and offer little flexibility in terms of which concepts they allow students to learn and how learning happens. The research aims to understand the assets that students and teachers bring to the activities, and capture feedback on implementation from the students and teachers to improve the robot design. The project is potentially transformative in its goal to use Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to create a robot that is more responsive to the range of student abilities found across elementary and middle school classrooms. The project aims to help students develop CS and executive functioning skills such as self-control and planning, which are crucial to school success and successful STEM careers. It also aims to help teachers develop confidence and fluency in integrating CS content into their day-to-day work with students.This project builds on prior collaborations that yielded a low-cost, working prototype that is adaptable for use in kindergarten settings up to middle school and beyond for a “low-floor and high-ceiling” functionality and extendibility. The research will implement activities featuring the robot in urban and rural elementary classrooms in Virginia school districts to investigate students’ development of CS and executive functioning skills as well as student interest in STEM and information and communication technology (ICT) careers. The project will use design-based research methods to explore how teachers scaffold CS learning activities within their classrooms and how to create educational robots and associated materials for students with and without disabilities at the K-12, 3-5 and 6-8 grade bands. The project aims to work with 18 elementary and middle school teachers, with over 1700 students using the robot and associated activities. Expected outcomes of this project include improved CS understanding and executive functioning skills in children, improved teacher self-efficacy with integrating CS into their classroom, and a set of design principles for educational robots for students with and without disabilities. All project materials, including activities, robot designs, and building instructions will be openly available on the project website and Github. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.