Lego Robotics and group learning: Exploring the effects of gender, age, and family background

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate how grouping of students influence students interaction and achievement in Lego activities. Through Lego Robotics learning activities, students' interaction and performance were collected and analyzed through statistical analysis and qualitative data derived from interviews, video recordings, and related documents. The findings of this study indicated that Lego Robotics mediated learning by providing group-based learning experiences. The different background and grouping resulted in differences in interactions and learning outcomes. The major findings of are as follows: First, students' gender, age, and family background are not related to their learning outcomes. Secondly, group of the same gender conducted significantly more communication than the group consisting of more female than male students. And, the normal group conducted significantly more communication than the underprivileged group during programming activities. Thirdly, for programming activities, more interactions between group members would lead to higher scores on performance.