Understanding Impacts of Soft Robotics Project on Female Students’ Perceptions of Engineering (Work in Progress)

Holly Golecki; Sara Lamer; Elizabeth McNeela; Thomas Tran; Aasiyah Adnan

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: Pre-College Engineering Education Division Poster Session
Page Count: 8
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--41282
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/41282
Download Count: 353

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Paper Authors

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Holly Golecki University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign

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Dr. Holly Golecki (she/her) is a Teaching Assistant Professor in Bioengineering at the University of
Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an Associate in the John A Paulson School of Engineering and Applied
Sciences at Harvard University. She holds an appointment at the Carle-Illinois College of Medicine in the
Department of Biomedical and Translational Sciences. She is also a core faculty member at the Institute
for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access in the College of Engineering. Holly studies biomaterials
and soft robotics and their applications in the university classroom, in undergraduate research and in
engaging K12 students in STEM. Holly received her BS in Materials Science and Engineering from
Drexel University and her PhD in Engineering Sciences from Harvard University.

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Sara Lamer University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign

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Elizabeth McNeela University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign

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Elizabeth McNeela is an undergraduate student from the Bioengineering department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her primary research interest is focused on addressing gender disparities in engineering disciplines.

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Thomas Tran University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign

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Aasiyah Adnan University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign

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Abstract

Gender disparities persist across traditional engineering disciplines such as mechanical engineering and electrical engineering in colleges. Participation in K12 educational robotics is a common precursor to enrollment in traditional engineering majors, however the gender gap in traditional K12 competitive robotics perpetuates this gender disparity. We hypothesize that soft robotics, consisting of robots made from complaint materials that safely interface with the body, is a field that may appeal to female students’ enthusiasm for bioengineering and healthcare applications of engineering. While much of soft robotics work exists in research laboratories, there are efforts to develop soft robotics curricula for K12 students. Our previous work has focused on middle and high school curricula. When we had the opportunity to bring our soft robotics curriculum to even younger students, we had the opportunity to think critically about project design and ease of implementation as well as preconceptions children hold of robots and roboticists at this age. Perceptions of who can participate in engineering are formed as early as elementary school for some students. In this work, we present a three one-hour soft robotics lessons that were piloted with a first-grade girl scout troop in order to earn their robotics Brownie girl scout badge. The lessons include instruction on robotics and programming as well as hands on activities for students to design and build their own soft gripper. This paper details the soft robotics curriculum adapted for 6-8-year old children. These materials will allow other girl scout troop leaders to instruct similar lessons to earn these badges. We also present initial survey responses from the girl scout participants. Surveys captured the students' drawings and perceptions of robotics, who builds robots. Survey responses will inform the use of soft robotics in grades as early as elementary school. We aim to evaluate an alternative robotics curriculum that is specifically designed to create inclusive robotics spaces for girls with the goal of reducing the gender disparity in STEM and traditional engineering majors.

Citation
Format

Golecki, H., & Lamer, S., & McNeela, E., & Tran, T., & Adnan, A. (2022, August), Understanding Impacts of Soft Robotics Project on Female Students’ Perceptions of Engineering (Work in Progress) Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41282

TY - CPAPER
AB - Gender disparities persist across traditional engineering disciplines such as mechanical engineering and electrical engineering in colleges. Participation in K12 educational robotics is a common precursor to enrollment in traditional engineering majors, however the gender gap in traditional K12 competitive robotics perpetuates this gender disparity. We hypothesize that soft robotics, consisting of robots made from complaint materials that safely interface with the body, is a field that may appeal to female students’ enthusiasm for bioengineering and healthcare applications of engineering. While much of soft robotics work exists in research laboratories, there are efforts to develop soft robotics curricula for K12 students. Our previous work has focused on middle and high school curricula. When we had the opportunity to bring our soft robotics curriculum to even younger students, we had the opportunity to think critically about project design and ease of implementation as well as preconceptions children hold of robots and roboticists at this age. Perceptions of who can participate in engineering are formed as early as elementary school for some students. In this work, we present a three one-hour soft robotics lessons that were piloted with a first-grade girl scout troop in order to earn their robotics Brownie girl scout badge. The lessons include instruction on robotics and programming as well as hands on activities for students to design and build their own soft gripper. This paper details the soft robotics curriculum adapted for 6-8-year old children. These materials will allow other girl scout troop leaders to instruct similar lessons to earn these badges. We also present initial survey responses from the girl scout participants. Surveys captured the students' drawings and perceptions of robotics, who builds robots. Survey responses will inform the use of soft robotics in grades as early as elementary school. We aim to evaluate an alternative robotics curriculum that is specifically designed to create inclusive robotics spaces for girls with the goal of reducing the gender disparity in STEM and traditional engineering majors.
AU - Holly Golecki
AU - Sara Lamer
AU - Elizabeth McNeela
AU - Thomas Tran
AU - Aasiyah Adnan
CY - Minneapolis, MN
DA - 2022/08/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Understanding Impacts of Soft Robotics Project on Female Students’ Perceptions of Engineering (Work in Progress)
UR - https://peer.asee.org/41282
DO - 10.18260/1-2--41282
ER -