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Adriana Moscatelli - Robot Games for Girls

Presenter: Adriana Moscatelli, CEO, Play Works Studio In 2014 Play Works Studio received funding from the National Science Foundation to advance the design of a Robot Game for girls, and to conduct a psychological study of the game in collaboration with the University of Washington’s Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences. The results of the study were encouraging: playing with the Robot Game increased girls’ efficacy and motivation in STEM. Girls who played the Robot Game reported equal motivation to boys in terms of how fun programming is, how fun robots are, and how good they perceived themselves to be with robots. In the US not enough women choose careers in STEM fields, with computer science and engineering attracting the smallest percentages: 20% female undergraduates (NSF, 2012). Interventions such as programs, games, and toys that interest girls can provide early and positive experiences with STEM concepts and help level the playing field in STEM disciplines.

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Adriana Moscatelli - Robot Games for Girls

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  1. Robot Games for Girls! A fun path to STEM Adriana Moscatelli Founder, Play Works Studio @adrimk

  2. Magic the Gathering - 2008 Building Virtual Worlds Stage 3 Lab - 1999 Pokémon TCGO - 2010

  3. Children associate boys with math and science in elementary school (Cvencek, Meltzoff, & Greenwald, 2011; Farenga & Joyce, 1999)

  4. 100% 33% 50% 38% 20% 2012 1984

  5. Extensive experience with computer programming leads to equal success among girls and boys (Bers, Flannery, Kazakoff, & Sullivan, 2014)

  6. RoBees

  7. Department of Education SBIR grant NSF SBIR Grant V3 prototype Play Works incorporated V2 prototype Go to Market V1 prototype H1 2013 H2 2013 H1 2014 H2 2014 H1 2015 H2 2015 University of Washington CS Ed Week user test Studies & Summer Camps Boze Elementary 1ststudy @ UW’s I-LABS N=96 children Paper prototyping 1stuser test

  8. Research led by Allison Master and Andrew Meltzoff Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences University of Washington

  9. Research Questions What are young children’s gender stereotypes about programming and robotics? Can experience playing a robot- programming game increase girls’ technology-related motivation (without decreasing boys’)?

  10. Participants 96 6-year-old children (48 girls, 48 boys) Randomly assigned to one of three conditions – “Robot” treatment group – “Game” control group – “Baseline” control group

  11. Robot Group Children chose a “pet” robot and used a smartphone to program the robot to navigate an experimentally specified spatial path

  12. Two Control Groups “Game” control group: children played a storytelling card game “Baseline” control group: no games

  13. Dependent Measures STEM-Gender Stereotypes (4 items; 1–4 scale): – Are boys or girls better at science, math, programming, and robots? Technology-related motivation (3 items; 1–6 scale): – How fun is programming? – How fun are robots? – How good are you with robots?

  14. STEM-Gender Stereotypes 4 * *** Who is better? (1=girls, 4=boys) 3 2 1 Science Math Programming Robots All error bars are +/- s.e. *p < .05, ***p < .001

  15. Programming Enjoyment *** 6 ** 5 How fun is programming? (1=low, 6=high) 4 Both control conditions Robot condition 3 2 1 Girls Boys Condition main effect: p = .017 Gender main effect: p = .013 **p = .01, ***p < .001

  16. Robot Enjoyment * 6 5 How fun are robots? (1=low, 6=high) 4 Both control conditions Robot condition 3 2 1 Girls Boys Condition main effect: p = .03 Gender main effect: p = .01 *p < .05

  17. Robot Self-Efficacy *** 6 ** How good are you at robots? (1=low, 5 4 6=high) Both control conditions Robot condition 3 2 1 Girls Boys Condition main effect: p = .013 Gender main effect: p = .021 **p < .01, ***p = .001

  18. Conclusions • Children held strong stereotypes associating boys with robots and programming • The 20-minute experience increased girls’ technology-related motivation • It increased girls’ self-efficacy, and the robot treatment eliminated the gender gap in self-efficacy

  19. Next Steps • Classroom tests with 1stgrade students • Curriculum integration – Math – Reading/writing – Life sciences – 21stcentury skills • Support for teachers (tools) • Support for different game styles – Puzzle/logic – Strategy/RPG – Simulation/sandbox – Combat/arena – Infiltration/tower defense

  20. Questions?

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