Effect of robot programming education on students' mathematical achievement, maths anxiety, programming self-efficacy and STEM attitude

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of robot programming education on mathematics achievement, math anxiety, programming self-efficacy and STEM attitude variables. The study was carried out as a pre-test post-test control group design from experimental research models. In the 2017-2018 academic year, 117 6th grade students from a secondary school in the center of Elazığ participated. Quantitative data were collected by means of scale. In addition, an activity interview form was prepared and applied to determine the affective characteristics of the experimental group students. Within the scope of the study, the achievement test for the mathematics course was developed and applied as a pilot. At the end of the pilot study, the valid and reliable achievement test used as one of the data collection tools. Based on the literature review, appropriate questionnaires were found. Math Anxiety Scale (MAS) consisting of 22 items in five sub-dimensions was used for math anxiety. A programming self-efficacy scale (PSS) consisting of 31 items in one dimension was used for programming self-efficacy. STEM Attitude Scale (SAS), consisting of 37 items in four sub-dimensions was used for STEM attitude. In the study, 12 mBot Educational STEM robot with an educational robot set were used. Groups of three and four students were formed with the experimental group. The study was carried out for a total of 10 weeks, with robotic applications for eight weeks, pre-test and post-test data collection for two weeks. As a result of the data analysis, it was concluded that robot programming education has a significant difference on math anxiety, programming self-efficacy and STEM attitude. It was found that robot applications did not make a significant difference on students' mathematics achievement. A significant difference was found between the experimental and control groups in five sub-dimensions of the students' math anxiety. There were significant differences between experimental and control groups in all four sub-dimensions of STEM. A significant difference was found in favor of female students on math anxiety of experimental group students. In terms of gender, there was no significant difference between students' mathematics achievement, programming self-efficacy and STEM attitudes. A positive low correlation was found between programming self-efficacy and mathematics achievement. A positive middle correlation was found between programming self-efficacy and math anxiety. A positive high relationship was found between STEM attitude and programming self-efficacy. Qualitative data were collected from the activity opinion form applied to the experimental group students. In the analysis, the students reported that they favoured robot applications. The students stated that the robots could be useful in the subjects (i.e., Mathematics) they had difficultiesin understanding. With this study, it is acknowledged that robot applications are an effective method and increase the efficiency of the courses. It is recommended that robot studies should be carried out in order to change the attitudes of students towards STEM disciplines and their math anxiety.