The effect on problem solving skills of elementary schools students of problem based learning in educational robotic

The aim of this research is to examine the effect of educational robotic applications on problem solving skills of primary school students and their opinions about educational robotic applications. Within the scope of the research, the Embedded Design that is one of the mixed method research design was utilized. In the quantitative phase of the study, one-group pre-test and post-test model, one of the weak experimental models, were used and in qualitative stage of research, case study was applied. The sample of the study consisted of 18 girls and 42 boys who were studying in a private school in Nilüfer that district of Bursa. For the aim of the research, the Problem-Solving Skills scale which is developed by Ge (2001) and translated in Turkish Language by Coskun (2004) was applied in order to determine the effect of education on problem solving skills of the students. Also, semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve students form third grade and fourth grade, three girls and nine boys, to determine the students' thoughts and feelings about robotic activities. According to Paired-Samples t Test results, a statistically significant difference was found in students' problem-solving skills (p=0.000). In addition, the effect size value (d=0.85); shows that the education has a significant effect on the problem-solving skills of the students. According to results of Independent Samples t Test, the problem-solving skills of primary school students do not differ statistically according to their gender (p = 0.08). According to the acquired results in the qualitative stage of the research, it was found that the students found robotic activities enjoyable and felt happy during the class. The students also stated that they will continue to learn robotic studies in the following years.