Collaborative Research: CISE-MSI: RDP: IIS: Integrating Biology and Computer Science through Embodied Robotics in Elementary Classrooms

Science education at the elementary level is crucial but often challenging for both young students and teachers. Traditional methods of teaching biology can be difficult for students to understand and engage with because they often involve a “one-way” approach that lacks meaningful learning contexts. Similarly, teaching computational thinking (CT) faces its own set of challenges: many teachers and schools lack affordable resources to integrate CT concepts into the existing curriculum. This project promotes science education using affordable, programmable, and easy-to-deploy embodied robotics as part of the culturally responsive curriculum to teach both biology and CT in elementary schools. The project aligns with four of NSF’s 10 Big Ideas, including Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier, Growing Convergence Research, NSF INCLUDES, and Understanding the Rules of Life. This project tackles multifaceted and interdisciplinary approaches across STEM education, computational thinking, embodied learning, robotics, and end-user programming, laying the foundation for future elementary education by integrating interactive and embodied learning into the curriculum. The project centers around three main research objectives. Firstly, it identifies the challenges and opportunities within the current curriculum and designs innovative learning strategies. Employing a co-design approach, the investigators engage local classroom teachers and students to integrate Biology and Computer Science (Bio+CS curriculum) through embodied robotics. Secondly, the project focuses on developing novel, low-cost, intelligent, and easy-to-deploy embodied robotics and software tailored for elementary classrooms. The embodied robot is designed to move across a student’s body, visualize different bio-signals in situ and on-body, provide direct visual and tangible feedback, and support embodied programming activities. This design and development process follows a human-centered iterative design approach, with early prototypes tested with teachers and students in small batches. Thirdly, through design-based implementation research, investigators implement the Bio+CS curriculum and examine how students from diverse backgrounds interact with it. The project identifies effective strategies for teaching complex scientific concepts using innovative technology, thereby bridging educational gaps and fostering a more inclusive approach. Integrating biology and computational thinking through embodied robotics thus broadens participation in STEM education. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.