Using concept mapping to assess 4-and 5-year old children’s knowledge in the robotics and programming for prekindergarten project
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
1-1-2016
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to report on the concept map evaluation of an innovative STEM project for 4-and 5-year-old children. An American university research team developed and implemented a 3-month pilot program using engineering and robotics as the platform for teaching programming and problem solving. The engineering-focused lessons used a developmentally, age appropriate robot (KIBO) to teach simple programming skills while practicing a problem solving process designed to transfer to other settings. Researchers delivered the twice weekly lessons, integrated into the adopted prekindergarten curriculum, and implemented as part of the established center rotations. Researchers used child interviews and concept mapping as a measure of children’s knowledge of robotics and problem solving to estimate growth in their knowledge over time. Results indicated that the children exhibited increased knowledge of robotics, 93%, and problem solving, 42%, mostly resulting from the increased use of propositions and cross-links.
Publication Title
Communications in Computer and Information Science
Volume
635
First Page
287
Last Page
302
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.1007/978-3-319-45501-3_23
ISSN
18650929
ISBN
9783319455006
Citation Information
McLemore, Wehry, S., Carlson, D., Monroe-Ossi, H., Fountain, C., & Cosgrove, M. (2016). Using Concept Mapping to Assess 4- and 5-Year Old Children’s Knowledge in the Robotics and Programming for Prekindergarten Project. In Innovating with Concept Mapping (pp. 287–302). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45501-3_23