Early Learning of Lego Robotics and STEM through Culturally Responsive Social and Emotional Learning

• In Event: Building Inclusive Futures: Teachers Advancing Equity through Social and Emotional Learning in Diverse Learning Contexts

Abstract

Background: Effective early STEM learning is critical, particularly as transitional kindergarten (TK) is being widely instituted, adding a 13th grade to K-12 schooling. Substantial research indicates that a child’s early years can be essential for acquiring interest, motivation, and a beginning sense of belonging in STEM fields (Ata-Akturk & Demircan, 2021; Bers et al., 2022a; Lippard et al., 2017), and that highly viable approaches to this early learning are through building and coding robotic devices (Angeli & Valanides, 2020; Bers et al., 2022b; Sullivan & Bers, 2019). The objective of this qualitative study was to document and analyze the ways that two teachers conceived of and implemented culturally responsive pedagogy in conjunction with social and emotional learning (CR-SEL) in a year-long LEGO Robotics afterschool program to facilitate STEM learning for four and five-year-olds.

Theoretical Framework: The theoretical framework was grounded in social constructivist, cognitive development theories that children learn best by a process of construction that draws on prior experience in conjunction with active exploration and manipulation of their environment (Palincsar, 1998). Also, core principles from culturally responsive, culturally relevant, and culturally sustaining pedagogies were combined and connected to computational thinking (Quinn, 2023) as well as to social emotional learning (Mahfouz et al., 2023) to frame how these pedagogical approaches were integrated by the two teachers.

Method: Data included class video recordings, field notes, review of curriculum documents, and the creation of content logs (summaries and selections of key learning events in the videos) on 15 of the one-hour classes during the 2023-2024 school year. Also, semi-structured, informal/conversational, and teacher noticing interviews were conducted with the two teachers.

Results: By the end of the 2023-2024 school year, their 11 diverse students had similar outcomes regarding designing, building, and programming LEGO robots and other devices as well as associated aspects of STEM learning to what had been achieved with fourth and fifth graders in an earlier version of these teachers’ program.

Significance: These results significantly contribute to understanding effective, culturally responsive SEL approaches to facilitate early STEM learning in afterschool that also have implications for how this may be achieved in the initial grades of formal schooling.

Author

• Jabari Mahiri, University of California - Berkeley