ARIA (Associating Real and Imaginary Agents)

About ARIA

The overall goal of this project is to provide students with an opportunity to engage with science and mathematics concepts in the context of a design-oriented robotics curriculum and at the same time provide a research environment in which we can study learning in an authentic context and also implement specific interventions or introduce new learning tools.

The two overarching learning goals, as designated by the curriculum, fall in the category of specific conceptual and procedural knowledge necessary for success with robotics and with contextual problem-solving. In the former category, topics include arithmetic with rational numbers (i.e. “decimals”), estimating and measuring distances and angles, and learning programming language-specific concepts (e.g., loops and switches). In the latter category we are focusing on “embodying” oneself in a problem-solving task and planning extensively before implementing a solution.

ARIA Research

The research is specifically aimed at measuring the various types of learning described above.  However, to test theories of “embodiment” we have split the class into two groups that receive separate instructions. The first group receives traditional instruction for concepts such as adding two numbers that are significant at the tenths place. The second group receives an “embodied” instruction for such tasks in which they are asked to act out some aspect of the concept. For example, for addition the students perform on a “walking number line” in which their steps correspond to numbers in the problem.  Both groups are given the same open-ended problem-solving tasks for application with the robot. 

Student performance is measured through standard pencil-and-paper tests of accuracy and videotaped interviews of problem-solving. Some of the initial assessments, including the Woodcock Johnson test of mathematical calculation and fluency and a variation on the Hagerty test of spatial perspective-taking, were implemented as a means for obtaining relevant predictive variables and covariates. Other written assessments test student knowledge of specific, course-related concepts, such as rational number addition. In some cases these tests are implemented with a pre-post design to measure overall improvement, while in other cases these tests are given post-implementation to measure differences between groups. Videotaped interviews are given upon successful completion of problem-solving tasks. Students are given, one-on-one, a new task that is related to the problem that they have recently completed. Interviews will be coded for accuracy, strategy, gesture, and signs of mastery/fluency. The multiple videotaped interviews collected over the course of the semester will allow us to look at the development of problem-solving skills across the two groups.