Students' Metarepresentational Competence in a Humanoid Robotics Programming Environment

• In Event: Poster Session 1
  In Poster Session: Discipline-Based Research in Computing and Robotics

Abstract

Research in robotics education emphasizes students interacting with either a physical or simulated robot, yet the relationship between representations is important. This study uses data in which 5th grade students partook in a humanoid robotics curriculum with a coding window, a robotics simulation, and a physical robot. We hypothesize that students would exhibit competence and utilize their resources when interacting with these representations. Student interviews revealed that they largely understood the affordances, constraints, and connections among the three representations. Furthermore, students generally watched the physical robot when running the code and interacted with the coding window when actively debugging, but a few students devised alternative strategies. Findings highlight students’ understanding of the affordances and connections among robotics representations.

Authors

• Lauren April Barth-Cohen, University of Miami

• Moataz Eltoukhy, University of Miami

• Ji Shen, University of Miami