Acquisition of Physics Content Knowledge and Scientific Inquiry Skills in a Robotics Summer Camp
PROCEEDINGS
Yuxin Ma, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, United States ; Guolin Lai, Georgia State University, United States ; Louise Prejean, Mary Jane Ford, Doug Williams, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, United States
Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference, in San Antonio, Texas, USA ISBN 978-1-880094-61-7 Publisher: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE), Waynesville, NC USA
Abstract
Despite the growing popularity of robotics competitions such as FIRST LEGO League, robotics activities are typically not found in regular K-12 classrooms. We speculate that, among other reasons, limited adoption is due to the lack of empirical evidence demonstrating the impact of robotics activities on curricular goals. This paper presents a mixed method study exploring the impact of a summer robotics camp on middle school students' physics content knowledge and scientific inquiry skills. It was found that the camp enhanced students' physics content knowledge but failed to improve their skills in conducting scientific inquiry. Qualitative data provided explanation of the findings.
Citation
Ma, Y., Lai, G., Prejean, L., Ford, M.J. & Williams, D. (2007). Acquisition of Physics Content Knowledge and Scientific Inquiry Skills in a Robotics Summer Camp. In R. Carlsen, K. McFerrin, J. Price, R. Weber & D. Willis (Eds.), Proceedings of SITE 2007--Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 3437-3444). San Antonio, Texas, USA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved May 30, 2023 from https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/25146/.
