Research on robotics and grades.

[sbdrobotics]

One of the teams had a reference to a research article that was published showing the correlation between participation in robotics programs and higher grades in math and science classes. I have scoured the net and searched the forum trying to find this again with no luck.

Does anyone have a link to this article, or at least the authors name? I have to make a presentation to the local school board and cannot find it again :mad:

Thanks, Thomas

[bobsalive]

Is this the article that you’re looking for?
http://lwww.usfirst.org/uploadedFiles/Who/Impact/Brandeis_Studies/FRC_eval_finalrpt.pdf
(Melchior, Cohen, Cutter, and Leavitt, 2005)

Specifically, the key finding of

At the same time, participants were relatively successful students in high school. The mean
high school Grade Point Average for alumni in the sample was 3.5 (B+) and 84% had a B
average or above. Average SAT and ACT scores and participation in high school math and
science classes among respondents were both above the national averages. What is not clear
(and cannot be answered in this study) is whether this strong performance in high school was
the result of involvement in FRC, or whether FRC attracted strong students, or both.

is on page 3.

[Totally_Generic_Name]

Hm. There was no obvious causal link between robotics and having high grades, so it’s clear to me we need to do some experimental research. Quick, let’s grab a few groups of low-average, high-average, interested and uninterested people to do robotics.

[sbdrobotics]

Thank you!! That is just what I was looking for. We are buying a couple of VEX IQ kits for the local middle school and paying for the team registration fee’s, but still need to pitch the additional expenses of the entry fees and travel to the school board. The district is very poor, but with 20+ IQ teams in Greenville alone I think they can get a few competitions in without extended travel.

[sbdrobotics]

Hm. There was no obvious causal link between robotics and having high grades, so it’s clear to me we need to do some experimental research. Quick, let’s grab a few groups of low-average, high-average, interested and uninterested people to do robotics.

One thing I am going to ask for is a trend in grades over the next couple of years. This will also help with getting a VRC team started for the high school.

[tabor473]

Skill in math and science is definetly related to robotics but I would also highly associate this intelligence with lazyness.

Some people have low grades because they are really dumb.

[vdsa]

On the other hand, I can think of numerous instances where being involved in robotics made my grades slip… The moral of that story is probably that you shouldn’t spend every waking minute doing robotics.

[drdanielfc]

While I certainly haven’t done any studies here, I sincerely doubt that robotics has helped my grades at all.

That being said, it HAS made me learn quite a bit about practical applications of the stuff I’ve learned in school. That’s why mostly people with good grades do robotics - those are the people who are able to do the most with it because they have the physics, math, and (possibly) computer science backgrounds.

You really can’t take robotics knowledge and apply it to school (at least not high school) but it does teach a number of things that a classroom environment simply can’t. Quoting from the VEX Sack Attack Manual:

Robotics has strong appeal to this intensely competitive generation and represents the perfect storm of applied physics, mathematics, computer programming, digital prototyping and design, integrated problem solving, teamwork and thought leadership. Students with a previously undiscovered aptitude for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) curriculum are flourishing in growing numbers due to the efforts of schools, volunteer organizations, corporations, and governments internationally.

I think that quote just about sums it up.

Thus, the school shouldn’t introduce robotics to increase students’ grades but rather to teach them more. This is what schools are for, right?

[ManicMechanic]

This article on using robotics to improve scores from the Journal of Research in Science and Technology Education is rather old (2007), but it’s reasonably scholarly with enough data and statistics to enlighten/confuse the average educator. The robotics platform is LEGO, and the age group studied is 9 - 11 year olds (4th graders).

[edjubuh]

I was given the option of writing about any topic for inquiry in school. Naturally, being the complete nerd that I am, I decided to write an inquiry over the importance of STEM (slightly broader than just robotics) educations in schools.

I focused mainly on economical, trait, and test score improvement. Here’s a link to the Works Cited for that paper.

One thing I discovered is that there are very few papers that show a clear increase in test scores. The Virginia Department of Education released several reports about their STEM program, correlating to an increase of test scores for the entire state. Here is link to that research.