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

通过与低成本、适应性强的机器人互动来支持小学生的计算机科学技能和兴趣

• 批准号: 2342489
• 负责人: Jennifer Chiu
• 金额: $ 130万
• 依托单位: University of Virginia Main Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-07-01 至 2028-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2342489&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Supporting; Elementary; Students; Computer; Science

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.

该设计和开发项目反映了国家和州一级越来越多地将计算机科学 (CS) 纳入小学课堂的呼声，将开发低成本、适应性强的物理计算工具，为小学生提供学习 CS 技能的公平机会物理计算工具，例如机器人，可以帮助孩子们发展计算机科学的理解；然而，目前小学教师可以使用的大多数机器人都相对昂贵，并且在允许学生学习哪些概念以及如何进行学习研究方面缺乏灵活性。旨在了解学生和教师带来的资产该项目具有潜在的变革性，其目标是使用通用学习设计（UDL）来创建对学生范围更敏感的机器人。该项目旨在帮助学生培养计算机科学和执行功能技能，例如自我控制和规划，这对于学校的成功和成功的 STEM 职业生涯至关重要。将 CS 内容融入到他们的日常工作中该项目建立在先前合作的基础上，产生了一个低成本的工作原型，适用于幼儿园到中学及以上的环境，以实现“低地板和高天花板”的功能和可扩展性。在弗吉尼亚学区的城市和农村小学教室中开展以机器人为特色的活动，以调查学生的计算机科学和执行功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。该项目将采用基于设计的研究。探索教师如何在内部开展计算机科学学习活动的方法该项目旨在与 18 名中小学教师以及 1700 多名学生合作。该项目的预期成果包括提高儿童对计算机科学的理解和执行功能技能，通过将计算机科学融入课堂来提高教师的自我效能，以及为残疾和健康学生制定一套教育机器人的设计原则。 .所有项目包括活动、机器人设计和搭建说明在内的材料将在项目网站和 Github 上公开提供。该项目由学生和教师创新技术体验 (ITEST) 计划资助，该计划支持加深对实践、计划的理解的项目。有助于增加学生对科学、技术、工程和数学 (STEM) 以及信息和通信技术 (ICT) 职业的知识和兴趣的要素、背景和过程。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过评估被认为值得支持使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。