Affiliations: [a] Department of Educational Services & Research, The Ohio State University, 356 Arps Hall, 1945 N. High Street, Columbus, OH 43210, USA | [b] St. Joseph's Home, 1226 S. Sunbury Rd., Westerville, OH 43081, USA | [c] IntelliTools, 55 Leveroni Court, Suite 9 Novato, CA 94949, USA
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author.
Abstract: A cooperative learning environment with disabled and non-disabled student research teams used a robotic system to investigate phenomena in a manipulation-rich science education environment. The setting was an .inclusive third/fourth grade classroom in a neighborhood school within a large midwestern city. An innovative science education curriculum was developed which emphasized an inquiry-based approach. The research design involved both pre-testing and post-testing of student perfor ance in both pencil-and-paper tests and an actual experimental setting. Results were mixed, with students not performing as well on paper-and-pencil tasks in contrast to excellent performance on a transfer task. The results of social validity sampling procedures indicated that both students and teachers saw benefits through the use of the robot as a science tool. The implications of the research are discussed in terms of increasing interactions between disabled and non-disabled students and the functionality of the robotic device as an assistive tool. The needs for a future generation of highly capable and flexible robotic tools is discussed and some suggestions are made for the future.
Keywords: Assistive, Robotics, Science Education, Inclusion and Collaboration
