Robotics: assessing its role in improving mathematics skills for grades 4 to 5

Abstract

Inspiring and motivating students to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education continues to be an important educational focus in the United States. Robotics programs are one strategy developed to accomplish this goal. This causal comparative study focused on investigating whether a causal relationship exists between student participation in after-school robotics programs at a Mountain State charter school and their mathematics scores on the Renaissance Learning STAR Math standardized test given at this school to assess mathematics skills and learning. Two research questions form the basis of the current study. The first question asked if there was a statistically significant change in STAR Math scores for students prior to and after participation in the charter school's robotics program. The scores of students who participate in the robotics program were compared to the scores of students who do not participate in the program. The second question sought to determine if there was a statistically significant difference in changes between STAR Math pretest and posttest scores for students participating in a robotics program and STAR Math pretest and posttest scores for non-robotics participating students over a 2-year period of the robotics program. The student scores were matched for grade level, pretest scores, sex, and gifted designations. The study determined that although the STAR Math scores for students participating in the after-school robotics program increased following program participation, their increased scores were not significantly different from the increased scores of students who did not participate in the robotics program when the results were controlled for grade, sex, and gifted designations. Robotics program participation did not lead to higher STAR Math scores compared to scores of nonparticipating students.