Self-directed learning is described as an individual taking the initiative to engage in a learning experience while assuming responsibility to follow through to its conclusion. Robotics competitions are examples of informal environments that can facilitate self-directed learning. This study examined how mentor involvement, student behavior, and physical workspace contributed to self-directed learning on one robotics competition team. How did mentors transfer responsibility to students? How did students respond to managing a team? Are the physical attributes of a workspace important? The mentor, student, and workplace factors captured in the research showed mentors wanting students to do the work, students assuming leadership roles, and the limited workspace having a positive effect on student productivity.
Student engagement has been positively linked to academic achievement (Finn & Rock, 1997), persistence between grade levels (Kuh et. al. 2008), positive attitude toward school (Cothran & Ennis, 2000), and self-concept of ability in the classroom (Fullarton, 2002). One area of student engagement is a teacher implementing a type of learning activity in their classroom (Bonwell & Sutherland, 1996). If science teachers implement My dissertation committee: Eileen Merritt, Frackson Mumba, and Ji Hoon Ryoo for guiding me through my dissertation research and for sharing their perspective. Eileen brought an ecological perspective that added depth to my work. Frackson's teacher education background brought additional purpose to this research. Ji Hoon's knowledge of confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling guided me in the right direction. Thank you. My fellow Curry student friends who always made time to stop and chat, even during the busiest of times. Jake, thank you for making me laugh and for making me realize I was not the only one experiencing this challenging journey. Daniel and Xiaoqing, thank you for answering my questions and being patient with me. Aja and Kaite, thank you for the fun and entertaining outlet of teaching science to little kids. And to all my other fellow doctoral student friends who provided friendship and balance in my life. It has been fulfilling sharing my time with a wonderful community of friends. My family, both far and near, for providing endless support and advice, and seeing me through doctoral experience. I would like to specifically thank my mother, Jean Marie, and brother, James. We have been through so much together, both through good and difficult times, but this accomplishment is a shared experience. I love the both of you very much.
Participation on a robotics team affords students the opportunity to learn science and engineering skills in a competition-based environment. Mentors on these robotics teams play important roles in helping students acquire these skills. This study used an apprenticeship learning theory to examine how mentors on one high school robotics team contributed to students attaining the knowledge associated with designing and building a robot for competition. How active of a role did mentors play on their competition-based robotics team? How did mentors and students together handle the challenges they faced? The mentor-student interactions detailed in the research revealed an apprenticeship model where mentors played leadership roles reluctant to move beyond modeling tasks to students. The mentors’ roles bring into question if they were granting their students the full opportunities to develop skills associated with working on a robot. Despite these developmental concerns, the students on the team gradually took up simple tasks working side-by-side mentors, saw expert engineers model professional habits, and expressed being inspired while contributing to a winning team.
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