Action Research on Flipped Robotics Instruction

Abstract

Robotics and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) has become a growing field as technology continues to advance. Now, many schools have robotics programs to meet this interest in the hope of preparing and educating students with the knowledge and skills to not only participate and compete in robotics competitions but also to prepare them for future careers. There is a large interest in robotics among students and schools as it is a fun, engaging and hands on activity. Robotics however, does require a lot of time and resources, as students need to learn a variety of skills and information before they can apply their learning in designing, creating, programming and driving their robots. To better address the time and resources required for robotics I created a flipped instructional setting where students learn on their own prior to class from instructional modules and then review and apply their learning during in class activities. The purpose of this action research was to assess the effectiveness of a flipped classroom setting on the robotics team at a public school on Oahu. The effectiveness of this flipped classroom instruction was assessed through class observations as well as through assessing student work and progress. This paper examined the process that was used to develop this flipped classroom instruction.