Pre-College Robotics: Best Practices for Adapting Research to Outreach

David Ricardo Medina; Jaylynn Kim; Katelynn Ohk; Dominique Kisantear; Jorge Jimenez; Gavin Tian; Conor Walsh; Holly M Golecki

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: Pre-College Engineering Education Division (PCEE) Technical Session 14:Robotics and Careers
Tagged Division: Pre-College Engineering Education Division (PCEE)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 12
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--43920
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/43920
Download Count: 145

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Paper Authors

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David Ricardo Medina Golecki Group

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David is a rising senior in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Illinois. He has worked with the Golecki Group for two years and has worked on onboarding, outreach, and electrical/computer engineering components of projects.

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Conor is Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and a Core Faculty Member at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard. He is the founder of the Harv

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Holly M Golecki University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign

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Dr. Holly Golecki (she/her) is a Teaching Assistant Professor in Bioengineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an Associate in the John A Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University. She holds an appointment at the Carle-Illinois College of Medicine in the Department of Biomedical and Translational Sciences. She is also a core faculty member at the Institute for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access in the College of Engineering. Holly studies biomaterials and soft robotics and their applications in the university classroom, in undergraduate research and in engaging K12 students in STEM. Holly received her BS/MS in Materials Science and Engineering from Drexel University and her PhD in Engineering Sciences from Harvard University.

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Abstract

Adapting research for K-12 outreach is a critical activity for inspiring the next generation of engineers. Community-focused STEM fairs and events attract a wide range of students with varying degrees of knowledge and exposure to engineering. The challenge when creating programming for these events is the ability to adapt the research for young students with a wide range of engineering backgrounds. Adding to the complexity, engineers are not trained teachers, therefore outreach events can often contain overly complex activities that do not take a student’s dexterity or comprehension skills into consideration. In contrast, outreach programs may also contain activities that are not challenging which result in students disengaging with the activity. Understanding students’ abilities and interests is critical to developing pre-college curricula that is engaging for a variety of students. In this project, we present findings from an observation study conducted at a community-focused outreach event with over 200 participants. The event consisted of over fifteen exhibits related to robotics hosted by research labs, student organizations, and competition teams. This paper is focused on analysis of visitors' interactions with one activity, a silicone soft robot gripper. The gripper consists of two tendon actuated fingers, which are built by participants into a gripper and later used to pick a prize. The activity consisted of tests of dexterity and comprehension, including stringing threads through small holes, zip ties, determining orientation, and other hand manipulation skills. To gauge the level of dexterity and attentiveness in different age groups, we designed an observation protocol to follow 60 students through the activity from start to finish and record successes and pain points of the activity design. The goal of the analysis was for researchers to understand how best to present projects to outreach participants. The data collected during the activity was organized into several categories based on age, dexterity, and focus. After collecting and analyzing data, we observed that most participants had moderate dexterity and focus during the activity with focus and dexterity increasing with age. We also observed that participants who had prior experience in similar activities (with hobbies in sewing, helping with mechanical tasks at home) were more successful than those who have not. Overall results showed areas where the activity could be improved to become more inclusive of a variety of skills and more engaging for a range of ages. While focused on a soft gripper activity, the lessons learned here can be applied broadly to engineering research. When combined with lessons learned over 10+ years of planning and delivering outreach events in collaboration with feedback from teachers, this protocol and results can be applied in a variety of engineering contexts to improve efforts to engage young students in engineering projects to inspire the next generation of engineers.

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Medina, D. R., & Kim, J., & Ohk, K., & Kisantear, D., & Jimenez, J., & Tian, G., & Walsh, C., & Golecki, H. M. (2023, June), Pre-College Robotics: Best Practices for Adapting Research to Outreach Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--43920

TY - CPAPER
AB - Adapting research for K-12 outreach is a critical activity for inspiring the next generation of engineers. Community-focused STEM fairs and events attract a wide range of students with varying degrees of knowledge and exposure to engineering. The challenge when creating programming for these events is the ability to adapt the research for young students with a wide range of engineering backgrounds. Adding to the complexity, engineers are not trained teachers, therefore outreach events can often contain overly complex activities that do not take a student’s dexterity or comprehension skills into consideration. In contrast, outreach programs may also contain activities that are not challenging which result in students disengaging with the activity. Understanding students’ abilities and interests is critical to developing pre-college curricula that is engaging for a variety of students. In this project, we present findings from an observation study conducted at a community-focused outreach event with over 200 participants. The event consisted of over fifteen exhibits related to robotics hosted by research labs, student organizations, and competition teams. This paper is focused on analysis of visitors&#39; interactions with one activity, a silicone soft robot gripper. The gripper consists of two tendon actuated fingers, which are built by participants into a gripper and later used to pick a prize. The activity consisted of tests of dexterity and comprehension, including stringing threads through small holes, zip ties, determining orientation, and other hand manipulation skills. To gauge the level of dexterity and attentiveness in different age groups, we designed an observation protocol to follow 60 students through the activity from start to finish and record successes and pain points of the activity design. The goal of the analysis was for researchers to understand how best to present projects to outreach participants. The data collected during the activity was organized into several categories based on age, dexterity, and focus. After collecting and analyzing data, we observed that most participants had moderate dexterity and focus during the activity with focus and dexterity increasing with age. We also observed that participants who had prior experience in similar activities (with hobbies in sewing, helping with mechanical tasks at home) were more successful than those who have not. Overall results showed areas where the activity could be improved to become more inclusive of a variety of skills and more engaging for a range of ages. While focused on a soft gripper activity, the lessons learned here can be applied broadly to engineering research. When combined with lessons learned over 10+ years of planning and delivering outreach events in collaboration with feedback from teachers, this protocol and results can be applied in a variety of engineering contexts to improve efforts to engage young students in engineering projects to inspire the next generation of engineers.
AU - David Ricardo Medina
AU - Jaylynn Kim
AU - Katelynn Ohk
AU - Dominique Kisantear
AU - Jorge Jimenez
AU - Gavin Tian
AU - Conor Walsh P.E.
AU - Holly M Golecki
CY - Baltimore , Maryland
DA - 2023/06/25
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Pre-College Robotics: Best Practices for Adapting Research to Outreach
UR - https://peer.asee.org/43920
DO - 10.18260/1-2--43920
ER -