Creativity Skills Developed Through an Educational Robotics and Programming Curriculum: A Three-Year Study

• In Event: Transfer for Learning Outside the Classroom: Informal Contexts to Examine STEM Learning Skills and Strategies

Abstract

The Educational Robotics Curriculum developed by the Robotics Academy provides a realistic, visually compelling, and motivating environment for integrating robotics as a cognitive-learning tool. The Robotics Academy at Frederick University, an educational research unit (http://akrob.frederick.ac.cy,) (https://www.facebook.com/AkadimiaRompotikis) was launched in 2013 aiming to establish and stimulate educational robotics. Creativity is a key competence for the 21st century and an essential element of problem solving and critical thinking. Aiming to understand if robotics could be used to foster creativity, the study evaluates the overall impact and effectiveness of the robotics curriculum, in an informal educational setting for children between 5 to 12 years old. The following objectives are addressed:
To examine the changes in the development of the creativity components (Fluency, Originality, Abstractness of titles, Elaboration and Resistance to premature closure) and strengths after the completion of the educational robotics curriculum (pre and post-measurements),
To compare and contrast the changes in the development of the creativity components (Fluency, Originality, Abstractness of titles, Elaboration and Resistance to premature closure) and strengths among the three academic years.

The Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) was employed to measure individuals’ level of creativity. It is a well-known and widely used tool for measuring creativity (Baer, 1993; Kim, 2006; Wechsler, 2002; Nisiforou, 2015). It was developed by Torrance (1966) and it is used to measure the five dimensions of creative ability (Fluency, Originality, Abstractness of titles, Elaboration and Resistance to premature closure) and 13 creative strengths. The population of the study was elementary school students attending the Robotics Academy workshops, which completed the creativity test for three school years in a row. In 2016-2017 the questionnaires were completed and returned by 44 students, in 2017-2018 by 62 students and in 2018-2019 by 70 students. The pre-measurements were completed every October and the post-measurements every May.

The data of the first two academic years were analyzed. We are in the process of analyzing the newly collected data. The comparison showed statistical significant differences, at the .05 significance level, in 3 out of the 5 components, namely Originality, Elaboration and Resistance to premature closure. Besides, great increase was observed in the total index of the 13 creative strengths compared to their scores in the pre-measurement and post-measurement. Statistically significant differences emerged between the pre- and the post-measurements in regards to grade for the creativity component of Elaboration, showing the positive impact of the educational robotics curriculum experience on students creative thinking. There was a significant difference between the means of the scores the students got in the pre-measurement and the post-measurement with regards to the creativity dimension of Resistance to premature closure. Additionally, there was a significant difference in the scores for pre-measurement related to creative strengths. Overall, the results demonstrated that educational robotics can positively influence the development of students’ creative skills. Finally, suggestions are provided to enhance and update the educational robotics curriculum.

Authors

• Nikleia Eteokleous, Frederick University

• Efi Nisiforou, University of Nicosia