Research

The goal of the Robots in Science project is to support middle school science teachers to:

• Develop and strengthen robotics and programming skills
• Identify where robotics can enhance teaching and learning
• Design (and implement) integrated robotics units that advance students’ CT skills and support disciplinary learning

Over the course of a 4-year project, we worked with [how many?] science, engineering, and technology teachers and [how many?] students in two states. 

Implementation is now complete. Below are some examples of the project’s disseminated research.

Publications

2023

Bernstein, D. (in preparation) Robots in science class: Teacher reflections on their own integrated robotics unit designs.

Mutch-Jones, K. (under review).  Increasing teacher capacity to enhance science instruction with robot models and experiments.

[PD paper here – will add title]

Bernstein, D., Cassidy, M., Mutch-Jones, K., Cross, J. (2023). Using robotics to enhance middle school science learning: Examining teachers’ design goals for integrated lessons. Poster presented at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association.

2022

Bernstein, D., Cassidy, M., Mutch-Jones, K., & Cross, J.L. (2022). Robots in Science: How middle school science teachers design integrated robotics units for their science classes. In Chinn, C., Tan, E., Chan, C., & Kali, Y. (Eds.) Proceedings of the 16th International Conference of the Learning Sciences-ICLS2022. Hiroshima, Japan: International Society of the Learning Sciences.

Shroyer, R., Washington, T., Emerick, M., & Bernstein, D., (2022). Robots in Science! Integrating Robotics and Computational Thinking into Middle School Classrooms. Paper presented at the National Science Teachers Association. Chicago.