2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

A burgeoning strategy for developing STEM interest among K-12 students is competitive, educational robotics (CER). The use of CER aims to strengthen students’ interest and engagement in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) through interaction with robotics design, components, and collaboration. The informal learning environment generated through participation in CER may lead to the development of an individual’s STEM identity, goals, feelings, decisions, and relationships through team, individual, and robotics building experiences. In this aspect, CER is an authentic, informal STEM environment that advances the development of social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies, including self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. These competencies are critical for achieving success in STEM educational pathways and are therefore requisite to develop among K-12 student populations to ensure a competent and diverse flow of personnel into STEM fields.

However, challenges exist in providing multifaceted STEM experiences, especially in the rural context. For example, research conveys that rural student populations throughout the United States have fewer opportunities to engage in informal STEM learning opportunities (Saw and Agger, 2021). Moreover, rural schools are now a focus of national attention, exemplified by legislative mandates to explore the scope of research and federal funding in K-12 STEM education and workforce development in K-12 rural areas (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2023). Encouragingly, CER has gained traction among rural school districts as a method for increasing rural student exposure to STEM principles and building robotics teacher leaders who facilitate these programs (Meador et al., 2025).

Prior studies have demonstrated the positive student outcomes and impactful learning experiences associated with both CER and SEL. What remains to be explored is the association between the two and how these outcomes and learning experiences may contribute to broadening participation in STEM fields, particularly for rural students who have historically been underserved in STEM. Therefore, this study utilized the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (2024) framework to evaluate the SEL of CER team members from four rural school districts in Texas. A mixed-methods approach analyzed student outcomes in relation to the five core SEL competencies, using data collected from survey instruments, interviews, focus groups, and observations at competitions.

Results showed a positive association between participation in CER and growth in SEL among rural student populations. Specifically, rural students who participated in CER programs received broader opportunities to develop relationship skills, self-management, and responsible decision-making in the context of STEM robotics training and learning. Barriers arose in the areas of self- and social awareness that coincided with the limited STEM resources available in rural communities. However, the rural students were resourceful in responding to and overcoming the challenges experienced in these areas through the integrated nature of CER and the STEM content. Findings from this study contribute to the body of work that seeks to integrate SEL development and STEM content in multicultural and broader contexts.