Examining the Role of LEGO Robots as Artifacts in STEM Classrooms
Shramana Ghosh, Pooneh Sabouri, Vikram Kapila · 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access Proceedings · 2020
Abstract Educational robotics has become a widely used technological and pedagogical tool in many K-12 classrooms across the United States. Through well-designed activities, students can manipulate robots and engage in enjoyable and meaningful hands-on learning while constructing knowledge regarding essential grade-appropriate STEM concepts. In particular, the presence of programmable LEGO robots as artifacts in STEM classrooms have significantly enhanced the nature and scope of science inquiry and engineering practices that can be conducted in K-12 classrooms, especially over the last decade. The utility of robotics as a learning tool in STEM classrooms is supported by the theories of constructivism and constructionism. Different approaches to integrating robotics in K-12 settings to support the development of students’ cognitive, collaborative, and language skills have drawn substantial attention from many researchers. Additionally, strategies to develop inclusive educational programs using robotic activities include: 1) developing projects that focus on themes and not just challenges; 2) projects that combine art and engineering; 3) projects that encourage storytelling; and 4) organizing exhibitions rather than competitions. Moreover, to encourage continuing student progress, optimal configuration of robots as “black-and-white-box designs” must be provided to students by educators keeping in mind the practical constraints of implementing robotics activities as a part of regular school curriculum. With the increased used of robotics to support learning in K-12 classrooms and beyond, greater attention must be directed towards the different features of these complex technological artifacts. The physicality of robots has long been considered to aid students in constructing knowledge. This is particularly true for engineering and technology disciplines that inherently entail a physical aspect. However, in addition to utilizing robotics to introduce students to advanced scientific and technical concepts, robots are increasingly used for engaging student interest in varied disciplines through project-based interdisciplinary activities. Through their functional roles as artifacts, educational robots may be conferred attributes such as capability to produce data when conducting an experiment or requiring students to have certain skills in the construction or operation of robot to complete the activity, among others. The learning outcomes of teaching using such complex technological artifacts must be analyzed by adequately considering the role played by the robot in learning process. Due to their materiality, researchers have shown, that artifacts contribute to scaffolding student performance by: 1) building ‘common knowledge’, 2) supporting critical thinking, 3) making ‘new things visible, or familiar things visible in new ways’, 4) problematizing, and 5) serving as an adjunct to talk. In this work, we propose to examine the role played by the LEGO robot as an artifact in scaffolding student learning in six different science and math lessons. We will begin by discussing the six robotics-enhanced lessons jointly created and presented by teachers and students from six schools during an exposition day, held during the academic year as a follow-up to a summer teacher professional development program. Next, we will examine some key ideas related to scaffolding, particularly in the context of technological artifacts. We will then utilize these constructs to examine the manner in which the LEGO robots are used to scaffold student learning in the complex tasks presented to them and discuss their relative tradeoffs. As more K-12 schools continue to invest in robots as educational tools, it is imperative that educational LEGO robots are examined through the lens of their contributions to the support, challenges, and scaffolding they offer for student learning.