2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Robotics, an interdisciplinary field spanning various science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, is recognized as a transformative force shaping our daily lives. With its broad popularity among children and teenagers, robotics serves as a fertile ground for cultivating future professionals in science and engineering. Introducing structured robotics education to young learners at an early age can attract highly promising students to STEM fields. However, formal robotics education typically begins in college, by which time many students have already chosen their majors. To bridge this gap, robotic competitions have emerged as crucial incubators for nurturing future scientists and engineers.

This study proposes a novel Learning-Practice-Service (LPS) framework for robotics education tailored to 7th-12th graders, with three independent and complementary components: Learning, Practice, and Service. The LPS framework encompasses comprehensive learning and practice activities, combining academic challenges with hands-on experiences, and covering the entire robotics education process from problem statement to real world operation of robots in competitions. It fosters skills across various STEM disciplines, integrates technical and non-technical training, and cultivates leadership and community engagement skills. Implemented through participation in internationally recognized team-based robotics competitions over three years (2020-2023), the LPS framework has been further extended to include training sessions in three summer camps for 2nd - 8th graders and two extracurricular clubs for 6th-8th graders in regular school semesters.

The framework has been assessed using data collected from more than 1,900 learning-practice-service hours, in which students solved varied real world engineering problems and tested their robots at competitions, presented their learning outcomes in judge rooms and conferences, and conducted a range of service projects involving local, national, and international partners. The collected data encompasses team achievements in robotic competitions over three years, individual student accomplishments, and the effects of services delivered via the LPS framework. The assessment of the LPS framework's impact relied on service hours, outreach scales, and feedback collected during the summer camps.

The analysis confirmed the framework's effectiveness in enhancing students' technical and soft skills, sustaining their interest in STEM, improving team performances, and fostering an inclusive community for collaboration. The LPS framework offers students flexibility in developing their skill sets and has been proven to be sustainable, transformable, and scalable for integration into K-12th engineering curriculum and extracurricular programs.