It is critical that educators consider ways to enhance Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education in the classroom to prepare future generations for growing STEM jobs. Occupational fields that benefit from knowledge and practice in STEM education are experiencing instant growth, and consequently employers are seeking ways to…

A multiple case study was conducted to investigate how Lego robotics instruction incorporated into a middle grades mathematics methods course could inform pre-service teachers' (PSTs) TPACK through the lens of Social Constructivist Theory. The qualitative data analysis revealed that when instruction on Lego robotics technology is integrated into…

This article presents a program evaluation of a six-week middle school pilot program focused on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) enrichment using robotics, specifically VEX Robots™. Two key questions guided this evaluation: (a) Does exposure to robotics influence middle school dispositions about STEM and careers in STEM? and (b)…

In 2014 NCTM advocated for productive struggle by expressing the need for teachers to allow their students the time necessary to grapple with their mathematical "uncertainties." We posit pre-service teachers need opportunities to productively struggle when learning and applying their mathematical understanding in order to understand how…

Ed+gineering, an NSF-funded program, adapted hands-on robotics instruction for online delivery in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This qualitative multiple case study shares the experiences of participating education students in spring 2021 as they collaborated virtually with engineering students and fifth graders to engineer bioinspired robots…

One result of the growing concerns over the numbers of young people moving into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-related careers has been the expansion of formal and informal STEM education programming for pre-college youth, from elementary school through high school. While the number of programs has grown rapidly, there is…

As an alternative to experimental design, using a social design experiment methodology, we analyzed the Academy for Teacher Excellence's "La Clase Mágica's" (LCM) Robotics Clubs, a university-school collaborative partnership. Given the scarcity of minority representation in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and…

Educational robotics involves using robots as an educational tool to provide a long term, and progressive learning activity, to cater to different age group. The current concern is that, using robots in education should not be an instance of a one-off project for the sole purpose of participating in a competitive event. Instead, it should be a…

This paper considers an approach to studying issues in technology and science, which integrates design and inquiry activities towards creating and exploring technological models of scientific phenomena. We implemented this approach in a context where the learner inquires into a biological phenomenon and develops its representation in the form of a…

Robotic competitions continue to gain popularity in the educational community as a way to engage students in hands-on learning that can raise a student's interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. In 1992, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) held its first competition and presented a style of…

In this paper, we describe the successful implementation of an afterschool LEGO robotics program for elementary and middle school students that is annually offered by the Whitacre College of Engineering at Texas Tech University. Three events are held on campus: the kickoff, a trial run, and the competition, spread over a period of eight weeks. In…

The International Conference on Academic Studies in Technology and Education (ICASTE) is set to take place at Amara Premier Palace Hotel in Antalya, Turkey, from November 16-19, 2023. Organized by the International Society for Research in Education and Science (ISRES) and the International Society for Academic Research in Science, Technology, and…

The nature of students' ideas about the scientific practices used by astronomers when studying objects in our Solar System is of widespread interest to discipline-based astronomy education researchers. A sample of middle-school, high-school, and college students (N = 42) in the U.S. were interviewed about how astronomers were able to learn about…

The haptic paddle is a force-feedback joystick used at several universities in teaching System Dynamics, a core mechanical engineering undergraduate course where students learn to model dynamic systems in several domains. A second goal of the haptic paddle is to increase the accessibility of robotics and haptics by providing a low-cost device for…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore the perceived ease of use and usefulness of an assistive robot educator tool. The theoretical foundation for this study was the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Service Robot Acceptance Model (sRAM), which explore perceptions around the utility of technological systems. The…