This study explored whether the computational thinking skills of early elementary-aged students be positively impacted by participation in a robotics-based, classroom intervention. Action research was used to examine the impact of a multifaceted, constructionist, robotics-based intervention on 37 second and third grade students at an elementary…

Recently educational robotics has expanded into curriculum beyond traditional STEM fields, and which can also be used to foster computational thinking (CT) skills. Prior research has shown numerous interdisciplinary benefits related to CT, however, these influential factors have often been investigated with relatively few variables. This study…

This paper presents a case study on six elementary school teachers' perceived learning in a professional development program where teachers facilitated an integrated STEM robotics activity in an afterschool setting. Teacher reflections and interviews data were analyzed for themes. The findings revealed teachers' positive growth in the following…

The purpose of this study was to determine what collaborative interventions produce positive effects for students working on collaborative robotics projects for science process skills, collaborative problem-solving, and learning motivation. In addition, the study examined the impact students' prior robotics experience had on science process…

This study, a sub-study of a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded research project, applies a modified strategy of the U[superscript 2]MC for an eight-week afterschool robotics curriculum to promote upper elementary students' computational thinking in the second grade. Twenty-one students in second grade participated in a Life on Mars project…

Robotics has been advocated as an emerging approach to engaging K-12 students in learning science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This study examined the impacts of a project-based STEM integrated robotics curriculum on elementary school students' attitudes toward STEM and perceived learning in an afterschool setting. Three…