Exploring the Effect of a Robotics Laboratory on Computational Thinking Skills in Primary School Children Using the Bebras Tasks
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The document summarizes a study that evaluated the effect of a robotics laboratory on computational thinking skills in primary school children in Italy. The study (1) involved robotics laboratories using Lego kits for 71 intervention students and regular curriculum for 65 comparison students, (2) assessed computational thinking using Bebras tasks, finding intervention students scored higher, and (3) found no difference in academic achievement between groups. The study provides evidence that educational robotics can effectively enhance computational thinking skills in primary students.
![Action plan
• Introduction of Lego® Education WeDo 2.0 [18] kit and
exploration of hardware components kit and the visual
programming environment to students.
• Teaching of basic programming concepts, designing of
simple programs, and use of the sensors and actuators
• peer-coaching in construction and programming of
new robots solving STEM challenges.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/chiazzeseetal2018teem2018-190128171532/85/Exploring-the-Effect-of-a-Robotics-Laboratory-on-Computational-Thinking-Skills-in-Primary-School-Children-Using-the-Bebras-Tasks-7-320.jpg)
![The Current Study
Aim, research design, and
Participants
Aim
Evaluate the usefulness of a basic robotics laboratory, supported by the use of
Lego® Education WeDo 2.0 robotics kit [18], for the development of early CT
skills in children attending 3th and 4th grade of primary school.
Quasi-experimental posttest-only research design4
Intervention
Children attending 3 different classrooms1 (2 third, 1 fourth grade)
participated to the robotics laboratories (Intervention)
71 students attended the robotics laboratories; 51 students (age
range 8-10; 18 female) completed the outcome measures
Comparison
Children of 3 classrooms1 (2 third, 1 fourth grade classrooms) attended the
regular school curriculum (Comparison)
65 students from the regular curriculum classrooms; 32 students (age
range 8-10; 12 female) completed the outcome measures
1Classrooms of a primary public school in Palermo (Italy), Direzione Didattica Statale “Moni Iblei”](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/chiazzeseetal2018teem2018-190128171532/85/Exploring-the-Effect-of-a-Robotics-Laboratory-on-Computational-Thinking-Skills-in-Primary-School-Children-Using-the-Bebras-Tasks-8-320.jpg)
Exploring the Effect of a Robotics Laboratory on Computational Thinking Skills in Primary School Children Using the Bebras Tasks
- 1. Exploring the Effect of a Robotics Laboratory on Computational Thinking Skills in Primary School Children USING THE BEBRAS TASKS Giuseppe Chiazzese, Marco Arrigo, Antonella Chifari, Violetta Lonati, Crispino Tosto
- 3. The «PROMISE» Project Project funded by Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) Network of Italian Partners also including research institutes, universities, non-profit organizations http://www.promiseproject.it/
- 4. Aim of the project to activate an Italian national network for enhancing technological and scientific skills in school and extra-school settings 1. Training of 105 teachers in educational robotics in North, Central and Southern Italy 2. Allowing teachers and educators to design and conduct educational robotics laboratories in primary and secondary schools
- 5. The Current Study Introduction and Significance ▪ can be effective in enhancing students’ learning of concepts related to the STEM area in K-12 education1,2 ▪ Can support a Computational Thinking (CT) learning progression from sequencing ability to system knowledge3 ▪ Literature highlights more qualitative and few quantitative studies on the effect of educational robotics on the development of CT skills among primary school students Why Educational Robotics in STEM teaching
- 6. The Robotics Laboratories are • part of the second phase of the “PROMISE” project. • carried out by school teachers (who have attended the first phase training courses), researches of the Institute for Educational Technologies (CNR) • organized in 4 sessions (2 hours each) for 3 parallel laboratories • supported by students of the Computer Science course of the High School “Istituto Superiore Majorana” Palermo that have coached the younger students in building and programming educational robot
- 7. Action plan • Introduction of Lego® Education WeDo 2.0 [18] kit and exploration of hardware components kit and the visual programming environment to students. • Teaching of basic programming concepts, designing of simple programs, and use of the sensors and actuators • peer-coaching in construction and programming of new robots solving STEM challenges.
- 8. The Current Study Aim, research design, and Participants Aim Evaluate the usefulness of a basic robotics laboratory, supported by the use of Lego® Education WeDo 2.0 robotics kit [18], for the development of early CT skills in children attending 3th and 4th grade of primary school. Quasi-experimental posttest-only research design4 Intervention Children attending 3 different classrooms1 (2 third, 1 fourth grade) participated to the robotics laboratories (Intervention) 71 students attended the robotics laboratories; 51 students (age range 8-10; 18 female) completed the outcome measures Comparison Children of 3 classrooms1 (2 third, 1 fourth grade classrooms) attended the regular school curriculum (Comparison) 65 students from the regular curriculum classrooms; 32 students (age range 8-10; 12 female) completed the outcome measures 1Classrooms of a primary public school in Palermo (Italy), Direzione Didattica Statale “Moni Iblei”
- 9. The Current Study Measures – Computational Thinking The Bebras Tasks. Set of activities designed for the “International Challenge on Informatics and Computational Thinking”a The 10 tasks of n the “KiloBebras” 2017/2018 Italian challenge were proposed. Total scores on the Bebras tasks used as measure of computational thinking skills. The Bebras tasks already used as a tool for the assessment of children’s ability to transfer their computational thinking skills in the solution of “real-life” problems6 https://bebras.it Italian platform
- 10. For pupils of grades until 8th, the main skills subsumed/promoted by the Bebras tasks are: ▪ logically analyzing and organizing data ▪ representing data through abstraction and formal encodings ▪ using algorithmic thinking as a way to automatize solution ▪ implementing simple algorithmic procedures (coding) Skills they subsumed/promoted are transversal and shared with other (not only STEM) disciplines 1https://bebras.it/, Italian Platform The Current Study Measures – Computational Thinking
- 11. The Current Study Measures – Additional Academic Achievement Teachers’ assessment of achievement in all scholastic subjects Average academic performance and average performance on STEM subjects derived to compare the intervention and comparison groups. Experience with the Bebras Tasks Self-report questionnaire to assess students’ experience with the Bebras tasks: a) satisfaction with the tasks, b) tasks perceived difficulty, and c) tasks as learning tools Satisfaction with the Laboratory Self-report questionnaire to evaluate students’ satisfaction with the intervention
- 12. The Current Study Statistical Analyses Two Mann-Whitney U tests to evaluate differences between the intervention and comparison group on average academic performance and average performance on STEM subjects. Independent t-tests to assess the difference between intervention and comparison conditions ▪ in computational thinking (Bebras total scores) ▪ in time to complete the Bebras tasks, and ▪ satisfaction with the Bebras Tasks
- 13. The Current Study - Results 0 5 10 15 20 25 Intervention Comparison Bebras CT evaluation Bebras CT evaluation Academic Performance no significant differences between the intervention and comparison groups Mann-Whitney U tests • overall (intervention median=5, comparison median=4.5, n=51, Mann–Whitney U=650, p=.10), and • STEM subjects (intervention median=5, comparison median=4.5, n=32, Mann–Whitney U=655, p=.11). Computational Thinking students participating to the robotics laboratory reported significantly higher total scores on the Bebras challenge than did those attending only the regular school curriculum. Independent t-test, t(81)=-4.45, p<0.001. Students in the intervention group spent more time in minutes to complete the Bebras challenge Students in both the groups showed comparable levels of satisfaction with the Bebras tasks (moderately to high satisfaction) and perceived the tasks as a useful learning tool
- 14. The Current Study Brief Discussion Our results adds to the existing literature on the effectiveness of robotics education in fostering the acquisition of CT skills2, 7, 8 Our results confirm the relevance of using robotics kits to promote the development of CT abilities in the solution of “real-life” problems6 The enhancement of CT may explain why children in the intervention group spent more time in completing the Bebras challenge while showing a better performance. Students in the comparison group could have found some tasks more difficult to complete and renounced completing the challenge faster than their intervention counterpart.
- 15. The Current Study Implications and future directions 1 Educational robotics facilitate the early development of CT- related cognitive abilities that children may transfer for adequately coping with realistic problematic situations. 2 The study encourages the systematic adoption of educational robotics in K-12 education as an engaging and effective tool 3 Bebras Tasks captured differences in performance between the two condition 4 Limited sample size 5 Future research should assess CT skills acquisition within different domains of application6
- 16. References 1. Benitti, F. B. V., & Spolaôr, N. (2017). How have robots supported stem teaching?. In Robotics in STEM Education (pp. 103-129). Springer, Cham. 2. Benitti, F. B. V. (2012). Exploring the educational potential of robotics in schools: A systematic review. Computers & Education, 58(3), 978-988. 3. Sullivan, F. R., & Heffernan, J. (2016). Robotic construction kits as computational manipulatives for learning in the STEM disciplines. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 48(2), 105- 128. 4. Montero I., and Orfelio G. León O. G. (2007). A guide for naming research studies in Psychology. International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, 7(3), 847-862 5. LEGO Education WeDo 2.0, https://education.lego.com/en- us/elementary/shop/wedo-2 6. Román-González M., Moreno-León J., and Robles G. (2017). Complementary tools for computational thinking assessment. In Proceedings of International Conference on Computational Thinking Education (CTE 2017), S.C. Kong, J. Sheldon, and K.Y. Li (Eds.). The Education University of Hong Kong, 154-159. 7. G. Chiazzese, G. Fulantelli, V. Pipitone, and D. Taibi. 2018. Engaging Primary School Children in Computational Thinking: Designing and Developing Videogames. Education in the Knowledge Society, 19(2), 63-81. DOI:https://doi.org/10.14201/eks20181926381. 8. Guanhua Chen, Ji Shen, Lauren Barth-Cohen, Shiyan Jiang, Xiaoting Huang, and Moataz Eltoukhy. 2017. Assessing elementary students’ computational thinking in everyday reasoning and robotics programming. Computers & Education, 109, 162-175.
- 17. Thank you! Giuseppe Chiazzese Istituto per le Tecnologie Didattiche Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Palermo Italy giuseppe.chiazzese@itd.cnr.it Marco Arrigo Istituto per le Tecnologie Didattiche Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Palermo Italy marco.arrigo@itd.cnr.it Antonella Chifari Istituto per le Tecnologie Didattiche Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Palermo Italy antonella.chifari@itd.cnr.it Violetta Lonati Dipartimento di Informatica Università degli studi di Milano Italy lonati@di.unimi.it Crispino Tosto Istituto per le Tecnologie Didattiche Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Palermo Italy crispino.tosto@itd.cnr.it