Research Initiation: Understanding Impacts of Soft Robotics Curricula on Female Students Engineering Identity

参加K12教育机器人课程是进入工程专业学习的普遍前提，然而，传统大学预科机器人课程的性别差距阻碍了这些学科的平等学习。我们相信，软机器人可能会为弱势群体的学生进入工程专业创造一条新的途径。软机器人是由软材料和柔性电子设备制成的设备，使机器人能够更安全地与人类和其他生物接触。软机器人技术提供了一个机会，通过以人为本的角度介绍传统的工程原理，并有可能使工程多样化。该项目将实现两个目标。首先，本项目旨在了解初高中女生在理科课上参与软机器人项目后，工科身份的变化。其次，该项目旨在将首席研究员引入工程教育研究，催化一个新的研究企业，专注于获得工程和教育机器人。研究团队将利用与当地学校的现有关系，提供先前试点的软机器人课程，并研究学生的体验。项目实施将包括为伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校当地约200名初高中学生提供为期一周的机器人实践短期课程。迄今为止，在机械和电气工程领域缺乏女性代表是有据可查的。然而，女性进入这些专业的成功途径还没有得到充分研究。代理信念一直是理解女性如何进入某些工程专业（如生物工程）的有用视角。导师-学员研究团队将利用混合方法来探索软机器人技术作为工程的新途径，关键工程机构将成为了解学生体验的框架。研究团队将使用调查和访谈工具来帮助回答总体研究问题：软机器人的实施如何影响高中生的态度和自我信念，从而作为一种策略来招募女性学生进入传统上以男性为主的工程专业？在活动开始前，学生们将使用工程认同和代理信念量表进行调查。实施后，学生将完成一项后期调查，研究团队将采访选定的学生，以了解这些活动如何影响他们的工程身份。这个合作研究项目的结果将是对大学预科软机器人课程的要素进行分析，这可能会导致工程领域的多样化招聘。在基于标准的软机器人课程中对当地利益相关者的教育为我们进一步参与当地社区打开了大门。传播研究成果将使广泛采用成为可能。这项研究的结果将为增加女性和未被充分代表的少数民族在大学工程水平和工程劳动力中的代表性铺平道路，为解决社会重大挑战的多样性做出贡献。软机器人课程有潜力培养多样化的一代工程师，不仅为女孩，也为其他代表性不足的群体的学生减少进入门槛。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Participation in K12 educational robotics is a common precursor to enrollment in engineering majors, however the gender gap in traditional pre-college robotics prevents equal access to these disciplines. We believe soft robotics may create a new pathway for students from underrepresented groups to enter engineering majors. Soft robots are those devices made from soft materials and flexible electronics enabling robots to more safely interface with humans and other living organisms. Soft robotics presents an opportunity to introduce traditional engineering principles through a human-centered perspective with the potential to diversify engineering. This project will address two aims. First, this project aims to understand changes in the engineering identity of middle and high school-aged female students after having engaged in soft robotics projects in their science classes. Second, this project aims to introduce the Principal Investigator to engineering education research, catalyzing a new research enterprise focused on access to engineering and educational robotics. The research team will utilize existing relationships with local schools to deliver a previously piloted soft robotics curriculum and study student experiences. Implementation will include a one-week, hands-on robotics short course for about 200 middle and high school students local to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.To date, the lack of representation of women in mechanical and electrical engineering is well-documented. However, successful pathways for women to these majors are understudied. Agency beliefs have been a useful lens for understanding how women do enter some engineering majors, such as bioengineering. The mentor-mentee research team will leverage a mixed methods approach to explore soft robotics as a new pathway to engineering Critical Engineering Agency will be a framework through which to understand the student experience. The research team will use surveys and interview instruments to help answer the overall research question: How can a soft robotics implementation impact high school students’ attitudes and self-beliefs, and therefore serve as a strategy to recruit female students to traditionally male-dominated engineering majors? Prior to the activity, students will be surveyed using engineering identity and agency belief measures. After implementation, students will complete a post-survey and the research team will interview select students to understand how the activities impacted their engineering identity. The result of this collaborative research project will be an analysis of the elements of pre-college soft robotics curriculum that may lead to diverse recruitment in engineering. Education of local stakeholders in standards-based soft robotics curriculum opens the door for further engagement in our local community. Dissemination of research results will enable broad adoption. Findings from this study will pave the way for increased representation of women and underrepresented minorities in engineering at the college level and in the engineering workforce, contributing to a diversity of solutions to society’s critical challenges. Soft robotics curricula have the potential to prepare a diverse generation of engineers and reduce the barrier to entry not only for girls, but other students from underrepresented groups.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.