Developing collaborative behaviours in elementary school students: a comparison of robotics versus maths teams

Abstract

School robotics programmes help students learn science and maths curriculum and acquire needed social skills, such as collaboration. The aim of this observational study was to compare the level of seven variables indicative of student collaborative behaviour (focus, effort/contribution, communication, problem-solving, engagement in inquiry, attitude, and responsibility) exhibited by 48 students in 2 fourth-grade classrooms – one where students participated in a programme called The School Robotics Initiative (SRI) and worked on teams to solve robotics challenge tasks; and the other where students did not participate in the SRI programme but worked on teams to solve maths problems. Findings revealed that the robotics programme was particularly useful in developing problem-solving skills and a positive attitude towards teamwork as compared to maths assignments completed in teams. For future research, a multi-methods design is recommended to more fully measure the impact of robotics programmes on student collaborative behaviour.