RESULTS

The study was completed by the researcher in December 2018. Following is a portion of the abstract from the final report presented by the researcher as his Applied Dissertation to Nova Southeastern University.

"The Effects of VEX Robotics Competitions on High School Students’

Attitudes Toward STEM, 21st Century Skills, and Interest in STEM Careers"

by Paul Roland Alfonso Maiquez, Ed.D.

This applied dissertation was designed to study the effects of high school students’ participation in VEX Robotics Competitions on their attitudes toward STEM as well as 21st century skills and STEM career interests. STEM-targeted robotics curricular programs and competitions continue to gain interest and popularity in schools. One particular program, VEX Robotics Competition (VRC) that uses the VEX EDR system, is regarded as the largest and fastest-growing global robotics competition. Robotics curricular programs and competitions are generally designed to increase students’ STEM awareness and interest through immersion in robot designing and building activities. However, in spite of the popularity and intentions of robotics competitions such as the VRC, there appeared to be very few research studies written on the specific topic of VEX Robotics in STEM education. Furthermore, there is a lack of research conducted on students’ attitudes toward STEM in relationship with robotics. An equal lack of research on the specific topic of VEX Robotics and attitudes toward STEM seems to be the case as well.

A study on positive attitudes of students was due in order to gain an understanding of the relevance of robotics competitions such as the VRC. To determine the effects of participation in VRCs on high school students’ attitudes toward STEM, students from four schools in Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, and the United States were surveyed using the Student Attitudes Toward STEM Survey (S-STEM). A focus group interview using a smaller sample of students was conducted to clarify and further investigate assumptions and result trends from the survey.

Using a mixed methods concurrent triangulation design — convergent design model, an analysis of the data supported the assertion that high school students who participated in VRCs had generally more positive attitudes ......