The effect of educational robotics–supported entrepreneurship activities on middle school students' entrepreneurship skills

The development of entrepreneurship skills from an early age has become an increasingly important issue in the field of education. However, the fact that entrepreneurship skills are mostly addressed at a theoretical level within curricula necessitates the support of these skills through interactive and practice-based learning environments. In this context, educational robotics applications, which have emerged as an alternative in the integration of technology into education, stand out as an effective and feasible learning tool for fostering entrepreneurship skills. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the effects of educational robotics–supported entrepreneurship activities on middle school students' entrepreneurship skills and to investigate students' views regarding these activities. An explanatory mixed-methods design was employed in the study. In line with this design, the "Entrepreneurship Scale for Middle School Students" was administered as a pre-test to 22 fifth-grade students during the 2023–2024 academic year prior to the experimental implementation. Subsequently, educational robotics–supported entrepreneurship activities were conducted with these students over a period of eight weeks. The activities were designed based on the opinions of the researcher and subject-matter experts. Throughout the implementation process, students were observed weekly using a structured entrepreneurship observation form, and both the researcher and the students kept weekly journals. Following the experimental implementation, the same entrepreneurship scale was administered to the experimental group as a post-test, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with all students. The quantitative data of the study were analyzed using statistical methods. In this context, pre-test and post-test data obtained from the scale were analyzed using a paired-samples t-test. The results revealed a statistically significant increase in favor of the post-test across all sub-dimensions of the entrepreneurship scale (self-confidence, innovativeness and creativity perception, leadership and tendency to take initiative, social skills and teamwork, and risk-taking). Observation findings also supported these results. The qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis. Findings obtained from semi-structured interviews and journals were consistent with the quantitative results and indicated that educational robotics–supported entrepreneurship activities played a positive role in the development of students' entrepreneurship skills and their related sub-dimensions. The findings further demonstrated that, through the activities, students gradually gained self-confidence, experienced a reduction in fear of making mistakes, produced solutions to different problems through trial and error, developed positive feelings toward leadership, and found the activities enjoyable and motivating.