“Creating a LEGO Robot as My Experiment Assistant”: The Application of LEGO Mindstorms NXT in Elementary Science Education
PROCEEDINGS
Yi-Chun Lin, Graduate Institute of Learning & Instruction, National Central University, Taiwan ; Tzu-Chien Liu, Graduate Institute of Learning & Instruction and Center for Teacher Education, National Central University, Taiwan ; Yu-Chung Lin, Department of Technology Application and Human Resource Development, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan ; Hsiu-Chuan Yang, Taoyuan Ta-Yeh Elementary School, Taiwan
E-Learn: World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education, in Orlando, Florida, USA ISBN 978-1-880094-83-9 Publisher: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE), San Diego, CA
Abstract
LEGO Mindstorms NXT has been popularly used in programming classes and has been seen as a useful teaching aid. However, few studies so far have focused on the effectiveness of Mindstorms NXT in science education. Therefore, this study proposes a course entitled “Creating a LEGO Robot as My Experiment Assistant”. Its aim is to assist scientific learning utilizing LEGO Mindstorms NXT. An implementation of this course is outlined focusing on the learning topic of energy resource concepts, and a case study was conducted to evaluate the potential usefulness of the course. Eight fourth-grade elementary school students were selected as course participants, and the results demonstrate that course participants gained greater scientific understanding, with most participants indicating highly positive perceptions toward the course. Students expressed that this course is interesting and useful, and they have a high willingness to participate in similar courses in the future. Some recommendations are also proposed based on these results.
Citation
Lin, Y.C., Liu, T.C., Lin, Y.C. & Yang, H.C. (2010). “Creating a LEGO Robot as My Experiment Assistant”: The Application of LEGO Mindstorms NXT in Elementary Science Education. In J. Sanchez & K. Zhang (Eds.), Proceedings of E-Learn 2010--World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education (pp. 1977-1982). Orlando, Florida, USA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved March 19, 2024 from https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/35844/.
© 2010 Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE)
Keywords
References
View References & Citations Map- Brandt, A.M. & Colton, M.B. (2008, March). Toys in the classroom: LEGO Mindstorms as an educational haptics platform. Paper presented at the Symposium on Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Environment and Teleoperator Systems, Reno, Nevada.
- Eggert, D.W. (2009). Using the Lego Mindstorms NXT robot kit in an introduction to C programming class. Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges, 24(6), 8-10.
- Fagin, B. & Merkle, L. (2003). Measuring the effectiveness of robots in teaching computer science. ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, 35(1), 307-311.
- Grega, W. & Pilat, A. (2008), Real-time control teaching using LEGO MIindstorms NXT robot. Paper presented
- Mehalik, M.M., Doppelt, Y., & Schuun, C.D. (2008). Middle-school science through design-based learning versus scripted inquiry: Better overall science concept learning and equity gap reduction. Journal of Engineering Education, 97(1), 71-85.
- Polhemus, L., Holmes, A., Jennings, S., Olson, P., & Rubenfeld, L. (2004, June). Integrating LEGO robotics,
These references have been extracted automatically and may have some errors. Signed in users can suggest corrections to these mistakes.
Suggest Corrections to References