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.

反映了在国家和州级计算机科学（CS）中越来越多的呼吁，该设计和开发项目将开发低成本，适应性的物理计算工具，为小学生提供CS技能和概念的公平机会。物理计算工具（例如机器人）可以帮助儿童发展CS的理解；但是，目前可供小学教师使用的大多数机器人相对昂贵，并且在允许学生学习以及学习方式的概念方面几乎没有灵活性。该研究旨在了解学生和教师带来的活动的资产，并捕获学生和老师对改善机器人设计的实施的反馈。该项目的目标是使用通用设计（UDL）创建的机器人的目标具有变革性，该机器人对跨小学和中学教室中的学生能力范围更快。该项目旨在帮助学生发展CS和执行功能，例如自我控制和计划，这对于学校成功和成功的STEM职业至关重要。它还旨在帮助教师在将CS内容集成到他们与学生的日常工作中发展信心和流利性。该项目以先前的合作为基础，该项目产生了低成本的，有效的原型，这些原型可适应于中学及以外的幼儿园设置，以提供“低流浪者和高高的天空和高高的高高和高高的功能”和极端的强度。这项研究将在弗吉尼亚学区的城市和粗糙基本教室中实施特色的活动，以调查学生对CS和执行功能技能的发展以及学生对STEM和STEM和信息通信技术（ICT）职业的兴趣。该项目将使用基于设计的研究方法来探讨教师在课堂中如何为CS学习活动以及如何为K-12、3-5和6-8年级乐队的残疾学生创建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，其中1700多名学生使用机器人和相关活动。该项目的预期成果包括改善儿童的CS理解和执行功能，提高了教师的自我效能感并将CS整合到课堂上，以及针对有和没有残疾学生的教育机器人的一系列设计原则。所有项目材料，包括活动，机器人设计和建筑说明，都将在项目网站和GitHub上公开提供。该项目由学生和教师（ITEST）计划的创新技术经验资助，该计划支持对实践，计划要素，环境，环境和流程的理解，从而有助于增加学生对科学，技术，工程和数学和数学（STEM）的知识和兴趣的有助于提高学生的知识和兴趣（STEM），以及对ICT的信息和沟通技术（ICT）的授权，并依靠NSF的宣传奖，并依靠DEEM的宣传来表现出依据，并以此为基础。更广泛的影响审查标准。