I struggled for the majority of my life in school. It was never a lack of a quality education, I went to some of the best schools in Rochester, but I never saw a reason to try, and struggled with both an auditory processing as well as sensory processing disorder that made learning unpleasant at times. In high school I transferred from a private school to Penfield High School where I continued to fly under the radar, passing but never excelling. In tenth grade I found that between help from a wonderful teacher who believed in me, and a friend that suggested I join the Penfield High School Robotics team, that I was able to turn my life around and gain a new outlook on education.
After joining my schools robotics team, Team 1511 Rolling Thunder I soon realized that science, technology, engineering, and math were actually quite interesting and my C/B average quickly turned to A's with the help of my tenth grade biology teacher, and the many parents and mentors from the robotics team willing to help me study each day.
For my research paper I chose the topic of robotics and how it impacts education. I knew going into this assignment that robotics had played an important role for me, and throughout my time involved in FIRST both with Robotics as well as Lego League for elementary students I had seen first hand many others that seemed to share similar experiences, but I wanted to see if there was data to back up this trend.
I found that many scientists, businesses, and government officials shared my believe that robotics curriculums in schools could positively impact student achievement, but the majority of these articles seemed to be written from a more economical lens. Many of these "experts" were basing their claim solely on the fact that our culture has become so intertwined with technology that in order to keep up with the demand for skilled technology orientated laborers that we must integrated STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) curriculums into our schools in order to better prepare students for a technologically savvy world upon graduation.
While I found a great deal of speculation on why robotics curriculums might be helpful, I found fewer articles with data to support the validity of this claim. While the articles were few and far between I was able to come up with some that seemed to show correlations between robotics curriculums and student achievement. Of the three experiments that I used most often within my paper, each one found that robotics curriculums seemed to increase student knowledge in the STEM fields, as well as increase students social, communication, and team working skills. It was also noted that for females many of them displayed high levels of increased confidence with technology and that if started early, females exposed to robotics and programming would demonstrate fewer gender biases in the future and be more likely to pursue careers in STEM fields. Data also showed that in only one week of robotics and programming exposure that kindergarten and prekindergarten students showed a significant increase in the ability to sequence picture cards and think in sequential order.
I found this data to be extremely interesting and spent most of my time researching the benefits of robotics on minority groups such as females, students in poverty, racial minorities, students with disabilities, and young students. Every single study I found came to a similar conclusion; that all students no matter their gender, ethnicity, ability level, or age could benefit from robotics curriculums and improve not just their skills in STEM, but also their skills in communication, teamwork, critical thinking, and processing.
I think that these findings are so uplifting, and really makes me glad that I am pursuing a masters degree in educational technology. I knew in my heart that robotics could be of great benefit to students, but seeing the statistical proof really helped to validate my feelings.
Here is a very short video clip that I found extremely uplifting about how FIRST Robotics helped to change the life of a troubled teen struggling with substance abuse.
After joining my schools robotics team, Team 1511 Rolling Thunder I soon realized that science, technology, engineering, and math were actually quite interesting and my C/B average quickly turned to A's with the help of my tenth grade biology teacher, and the many parents and mentors from the robotics team willing to help me study each day.
For my research paper I chose the topic of robotics and how it impacts education. I knew going into this assignment that robotics had played an important role for me, and throughout my time involved in FIRST both with Robotics as well as Lego League for elementary students I had seen first hand many others that seemed to share similar experiences, but I wanted to see if there was data to back up this trend.
I found that many scientists, businesses, and government officials shared my believe that robotics curriculums in schools could positively impact student achievement, but the majority of these articles seemed to be written from a more economical lens. Many of these "experts" were basing their claim solely on the fact that our culture has become so intertwined with technology that in order to keep up with the demand for skilled technology orientated laborers that we must integrated STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) curriculums into our schools in order to better prepare students for a technologically savvy world upon graduation.
While I found a great deal of speculation on why robotics curriculums might be helpful, I found fewer articles with data to support the validity of this claim. While the articles were few and far between I was able to come up with some that seemed to show correlations between robotics curriculums and student achievement. Of the three experiments that I used most often within my paper, each one found that robotics curriculums seemed to increase student knowledge in the STEM fields, as well as increase students social, communication, and team working skills. It was also noted that for females many of them displayed high levels of increased confidence with technology and that if started early, females exposed to robotics and programming would demonstrate fewer gender biases in the future and be more likely to pursue careers in STEM fields. Data also showed that in only one week of robotics and programming exposure that kindergarten and prekindergarten students showed a significant increase in the ability to sequence picture cards and think in sequential order.
I found this data to be extremely interesting and spent most of my time researching the benefits of robotics on minority groups such as females, students in poverty, racial minorities, students with disabilities, and young students. Every single study I found came to a similar conclusion; that all students no matter their gender, ethnicity, ability level, or age could benefit from robotics curriculums and improve not just their skills in STEM, but also their skills in communication, teamwork, critical thinking, and processing.
I think that these findings are so uplifting, and really makes me glad that I am pursuing a masters degree in educational technology. I knew in my heart that robotics could be of great benefit to students, but seeing the statistical proof really helped to validate my feelings.
Here is a very short video clip that I found extremely uplifting about how FIRST Robotics helped to change the life of a troubled teen struggling with substance abuse.