Integrating educational robotics in primary school classrooms: Exploring teacher and pupil perspectives

Hughes, Amy 2024. Integrating educational robotics in primary school classrooms: Exploring teacher and pupil perspectives. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

This thesis investigated integrating educational robotics in early primary school classrooms to enhance children's computational thinking (CT) skills and did so by exploring both teacher and child perspectives. In Chapter 1, I outlined recent changes in primary school computing curriculums and the significance of CT in early education. I also explored how CT skills can be targeted within programming education and reviewed methods for teaching CT and programming to children under the age of 8. Finally, I emphasised the importance of teachers’ beliefs in shaping educational practices and outcomes. In Chapter 2, I explored primary school teachers' beliefs about CT, programming, and robotics through a focus group, revealing insights into the digital landscape in Wales from practising teachers' perspectives. In Chapter 3, I extended this work by using a mixed-methods survey to gather broader insights from a more diverse sample of teachers. Findings showed that while teachers valued CT, programming, and robotics, they often lacked confidence in teaching these subjects but believed they could learn. The chapter also highlighted barriers such as lack of resources, training, and support. Recommendations for improving teacher education programs included incorporating developmentally appropriate content, providing hands-on robotics experiences, and discussing cross-curricular integration ideas. These recommendations informed the design of a teacher education workshop discussed in Chapters 5 and 6. In Chapter 4, I examined how children (aged 4 to 7) learned with an educational robot, investigating the relationship between visual perspective taking (VPT) skills, programming performance, and executive functioning. I also explored the potential benefits of embodied learning for programming performance. I found no significant correlations between children's programming performance and their VPT or executive functioning skills. Furthermore, findings suggested that embodied learning methods did not significantly enhance performance on algorithm writing tasks or transfer of learning to other programming-related tasks. In Chapters 5 and 6, I evaluated a school-based robotics intervention and its effects on children's CT abilities and teachers' beliefs. This study was teacher-led, used a control group and quantitative methods to assess the impact of a 6-week robotics curriculum and teacher education workshop. Results showed significant improvements in children's debugging and algorithm prediction skills and enhanced teachers' relevance, enjoyment, and self-efficacy beliefs when the workshop was included. Additionally, teachers’ post-intervention self-efficacy was linked to pupil improvements in debugging and prediction tasks, demonstrating the importance of teacher confidence in student outcomes. In summary, this thesis demonstrated (1) how educational robotics can be integrated within early primary school classrooms to benefit children’s CT skills and teachers’ beliefs and (2) the importance of considering the role of the teacher in education research. Implications for primary education and future research are discussed in Chapter 7.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Psychology
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	9 October 2024
Last Modified:	10 Oct 2024 11:07
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/172754

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