Annotated Bibliography

Name: Simon Langen

Source: Mizell, S., & Brown, S. (2016). The Current Status of STEM Education Research 2013-2015. Journal Of STEM Education: Innovations & Research, 17(4), 52-56.
Annotation: The article summarized the current state of STEM education in America. It overviews involvement nationwide, as well as the trends of research on students K-12. It gives an wide overview of many different case studies and projects nationwide.
Potential Quotes: “The current analysis has demonstrated that the research base for STEM education has expanded since Brown conducted a similar analysis in 2012. This is encouraging since proficiency in STEM fields is critical to remaining a leader in the 21st century global workforce.” Page 52
Assessment: The source does not take a particular view. Rather it gives an overview of many different case studies and research projects with data and observations to supplement. It was found using the Galileo search engine and is a scholarly article.
Reflection: I will use this primarily to show data reflected in American STEM proficiency levels and possibly compare it to that of other countries.

Week of 1/15/17

My research is driven by a passion for engineering. I hope to share it with the students I interact with through my internship. My essential question remains: how does the implementation of competition robotics into Engineering class-curriculum help inspire interest in STEM fields, as well as improve overall student engagement, creativity, and satisfaction? I plan to showcase through either presentation or documentation of actual robots built by the students I work with. I have powerpoint presentations I have created for engineering lessons as well. There is plenty of research regarding scholarly articles and case studies in which the effects of STEM curriculum on student participation have been observed. This combined with accounts my own experiences, what I have learned from my mentor, and what I have observed firsthand among students a will provide the basis for my real inquiry. 

Robotics Curriculum Interview

Question 1

How long have you been teaching engineering?

•  Six years 

This experience allowed him to teach many students, at many different levels. It has given him the opportunity to work and experiment with many different teaching styles as well.

Question 2

How long have you been involved with competition robotics?

•  I have actually competed in competition robotics since I was a student in high school, and taught robotics for the past six years. I have worked with First Robotics Competition, First Tech Challenge, BEST Robotics, as well as VEX Robotics.

He has also had the opportunity to work with competition robotics since its very beginnings. This has given him extremely valuable insight as to the importance of robotics and how rewarding of an experience it is.

Question 3

Have you seen a correlation between student involvement and competition robotics in the class room setting?

• Absolutely. That’s one of the great things about it, as not only does it teach the students important skills, it gets them excited to learn about engineering and technology.

Robotics allows students to learn to apply math science and technology skills in a more exciting and real world manner. It is a rewarding and enriching experience.

Question 4

Would you say competition robotics would be affective as its own class?

• Maybe in upper level engineering courses, but foundation classes require other projects and activities to ensure all the basics of engineering are covered first.

Robotics is a great outlet for creativity and allows students to utilize the concepts they learn, however students still need to learn the concepts before they can begin to apply them and robotics might not necessarily teach everything.

Question 5

Do you think competition robotics will become more popular in years to come?

• Yes, robotics is becoming more and more popular as the demand increases and the technology becomes more accessible.

Competition robotics increases in involvement every single year and is becoming further integrated into education and extra-curricular activities as the costs of the technology decrease and more educators and students begin to have access to it.

Question 6

Do you think careers in robotics will become more prevalent in years to come?

• Of course. The demand for autonomy and robotics is booming and is projected to grow significantly in our lifetimes.

The field of robotics is growing rapidly and careers in this field will become a lot more prevalent. We are already seeing huge developments in autonomous technolgies all over. 

Question 7

Do you feel that competition robotics is currently accessible to kids of all ages?

• Yes, participation is at the highest it’s ever been and is only growing.

Even my little sister who is in the third grade has the opportunity to work on basic lego robotics kits, in her elementary school robotics club. Students are learning at younger ages the basic concepts it takes to design, build, and even program robots.

Question 8

Do you feel that robotics is effective in teaching students the basics of engineering?

• For the most part it is. It allows students to think outside of the box while learning about design and how to apply concepts from math and science.

There are many disciplines of engineering that have little to do with robotics. However, it is a very good outlet for the overall engineering mindset of problem solving and iterative design, that it allows students to utilize.

Question 9

In what ways does robotics not cover the basics of engineering?

• Well, there are other important skills that need to be taught besides just designing, building, and programming. Early engineering classes are also an opportunity for students to learn other things like software, as well as information about the myriad of engineering pathways.

Engineering is a lot more than just robots, and there are still plenty of things that can’t necessarily be taught through robotics.

Question 10

Do you think robotics should be an engineering standard?

• I think it could be a possibility. The demand for robotics is growing and it is very effective in getting kids involved.

Making robotics part of the engineering standards would allow more students the opportunity to use it as an outlet for creativity, and expose them to a field that will become significantly prevalent in our lifetimes.