Abstract

Educational robotics is a highly effective teaching and learning tool that fosters interdisciplinary STEM learning, positive perceptions of STEM, and strengthens valuable 21st century skills. However, for students to engage these benefits most effectively, teachers need to be well trained in the implementation of robotics in their classroom. Continuing professional development can serve to train current teachers as formal pre-service education programs begin to incorporate educational robotics into their curriculum. In this paper, we investigate teacher’s perceptions of the VEX robotics teacher certification courses. The 491 teachers who responded to a survey reported on their prior experience with robotics, as well as their confidence and knowledge after completing the courses. Analysis identified differences between teachers with no prior experience teaching STEM, as well as between male and female teachers. Future research related to these findings and directions for teacher training are discussed.

Citation

Harter, L., McKenna, J. & Van Campenhout, R. (2023). Teacher Perceptions of an Educational Robotics Professional Development Program. In E. Langran, P. Christensen & J. Sanson (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 2062-2068). New Orleans, LA, United States: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved June 5, 2023 from https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/222223/.

© 2023 Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE)

Keywords

• Instructional Design