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Under-Represented Populations Stand-Alone Report 3 (Progress)

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Project A Academy A Evaluation

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FINDINGS

Motivation to Attend

Prior to attending the AA Academy, nearly all the participants considered that they had a pretty good idea of what they would be doing. For those with previous experience in an in-school or after school program, similar activities were anticipated but with more time and resources. For those with no prior experience, teachers and in a few cases friends and parents appear to have been effective at describing the program and at depicting it as something likely to be of interest. For example, one girl said of her teacher:

My teacher told me... where it is going to be located, what you were going to be doing… like you were going to be doing programming, making robots, presenting them and stuff (8th grade beginner girl)

Nearly three-quarters of the participants found out about the AA Academy directly from a teacher or through a general school announcement. A few (15%) found out through a family member, typically mothers and grandmother, and a few others found out through other adults or same age friends, including in one case a participant in last summer's academy.

Table 1, which allows for multiple responses, shows students' motivations to attend the AA Academy for each of the two sessions.

Table 1. Students' motivation to attend the AA Academy by session.
Motivation to Attend
Overall
(n=27)
Girls only
Beginner
Session
(n=16)
Mixed,
Intermediate
Session
(n=11)
Previous interest/experience

29.6%
n=8

31.2%
5
27.3%
3
Like robots
29.6%
n=8
25.0%
4
36.4%
4
Sounded fun
25.9%
n=7
31.2%
5
18.2%
2
Wanted to learn
22.2%
n=6
18.8%
3
27.3%
3
Like building
22.2%
n=6
25.0%
4
18.2%
2
Parent promoted
14.8%
n=4
18.8%
3
9.1%
1
Computer related/programming
14.8%
n=4
12.5%
2
18.2%
2
Something different/novel
14.8%
n=4
18.8%
3
9.1%
1

Other responses included: friend and past participant recommended; will help me with science; like to design; chance to meet new people; will help me with future career pursuits.

Boys often cited interest in building, robots, and programming as prompting them to participate:

I just came here to learn more about robots and program different things with the computer (7th grade intermediate boy)
I like building robots, it's fun (7th grade intermediate boy)
I like robotics, I don't know how, I don't know why, I just like the fact that you can put a little piece of machinery together, add a bit of oil to it, flick a switch and that little piece of machinery comes to life. That, by the way, is by <name of famous author>, but I like using it. (6th grade intermediate boy)
Since I was in school I really liked to build stuff and see how it works so I just thought it would be great (8th grade intermediate boy)

One older boy connected his participation in the academy to future career interest:

Umm, because to be a video game [programmer], I mean to build video games and be a computer programmer... I want to make the video games realistic, make it like the real world (9th grade intermediate boy)

Practical concerns about future school success and education trajectories were also implied in several girls' responses. For example:

I thought it was fun when I went to the after school program. I like robots and stuff, and I think it will help me better with science and stuff and its really fun. (7th grade intermediate girl)

For some girls, the connection between the AA Academy and future learning and educational success was established and perpetuated by significant women in their lives, predominately mothers but also grandmothers:

Usually I do something fun and my grandma had this on her list... she works here...1 thought it would be fun because when I came [to University Y] for mother/daughter day it was fun (6th grade beginner girl)
I had a good time doing it in school and it teaches me more how to use the computer. And I have fun building the robots and I think it's a good experience, not all kids get to do this, so, my mom said you should go for the experience... She wants me to learn more. Like she told me to be the best that I can be so she signs me up for a lot of stuff like this. And she signs me up for cultural activities and learning activities, like I'm supposed to be going to this camp where we can learn about the city of Philadelphia this summer... (7th grade intermediate girl)
[My parents] say it's good for you to go there... and my dad says I've done it before so I should know what I'm doing and it's a very good school [i.e., University Y] so its nice to have on my portfolio or profile...(7th grade intermediate girl)
[My mom] thought this was nice and she was glad that I was doing something different. [Interviewer: Different than what?] Like summer camp. I usually go to my reading or math class because I really like math. [Interviewer: Is this an enrichment program?] Yes [Interviewer: Sounds like you're busy in the summer] Yeah, totally busy, not home watching TV ...I know how I can get, I can be lazy (7th grade beginner girl)
My mom thought it would be good and me too... [She thought it would be a] good thing for me to do instead of just staying at home all summer. She said maybe you could learn some more stuff and go to like robotics high school, something like that (8th grade intermediate girl)

One girl recounted her mother's initial role in motivating her daughter to stick with the school's after school robotics program long enough to make an informed judgment about whether she liked it:

I was interested because I was in an after school club at my school, School C, and they said [about the club that] you can build machines, different robots and
machines, and try to find it as a career. At first I didn't like it and I asked mom if I can quit but then she said just go and see, go for a little more and see how I like it. And so I went for another week and I liked it and I started building a whole lot of things that I like, and I wanted to stay there. That's why I'm here. (7th grade intermediate girl)

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Previous Robotics-Related Experiences

All but a few students had some prior formal or informal, and direct or vicarious experience with robots prior to attending the academy. Allowing for multiple responses, Table 2 shows students' prior robotics experience for each of the sessions. The category 'sort of' includes vicarious experiences in which students had seen a demonstration of robotics, either at school or at a local science center, or had engaged in some robotics-like activities at home (such as using Knex, a Lego-like kit with batteries). The majority of those with no previous robotics experience (3 of the 5) were 8th grade girls.

Table 2 Students' previous experience with robotics.
Previous
Robotics
Experience
Session
Overall
Girls only
Beginner
Mixed
Intermediate
Yes
66.7%
n=18
43.8%
7
100.0%
11
Sort of
14.8%
n=4
25.0%
4
0
No
18.5%
n=5
31.2%
5
0
Totals
100.0%
n=27
100.0%
16
100.0%
11

Table 3 shows the breakdown of the kinds of previous experience with robots participants had.

Table 3 Type of previous experience with robotics.
 
Previous Robotics Experience
Overall
Yes
Sort of
In-school
program
54.5%
n=12
66.7%
12
0
After-
school club
22.7%
n=5
27.8%
5
0
Informal/
home
18.2%
n=4
16.7%
3
25.0%
1
Demo by
teacher
9.1%
n=2
0
50.0%
2

Similar to last year's findings, two of the participants, both boys, with informal at home experience cited "taking things apart":

...If there is something no body wants I try to take it apart [Interviewer: Do you ever put it back together?] If I don't want to get in trouble I sometimes put it back together (7th grade intermediate boy)
At home, I take apart stuff...and put it back together and do like mechanical stuff with it [Interviewer: What kind of stuff?] Toasters, old toys, see if I can fix them (7th grade intermediate boy)

Participants with some in-school or after-school robotics experience were readily able to compare and contrast their school-based experience to that of the academy. The academy was observed to afford a more extended and advanced experience in contrast to school:

It started out the same as with the robotics club... It is the same because we do the same stuff, have the same tools and also same because, like we have to work in groups and have to do certain things. It is different because we have more time, can accomplish more and do more things in a day (7th grade intermediate girl)
It is the same because they both used Mindstorms. It is different because this is more advanced. (7th grade intermediate boy)
In school we built the mouse and the Robobot, that's all we did... [This is] different because we got more pieces and we could make more things. We have a long period of time. In school it's only 45 minutes. (8th grade intermediate boy)

The majority of AA Academy participants (60%) did not know anyone in their lives who does the kinds of things that they had been doing during the session. Most who did know someone cited a parent or other family member-uncle, aunt, grandfather, cousin, sibling-who is or was involved in building/construction (n=3), computer programming/building (n=2), electronics/wiring (n=2) or engineering (n=2). In only a very few instances did students say that they regularly interact with this person around the robotics-related substantive area.

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