Misperceptions to Suggestions: Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions on Robotics
摘要
Although robotics is new to the New Brunswick curriculum, barriers to its implementation include misperceptions on what it entails. This case study explores pre-service teachers’ misperceptions of educational robotics and how a voluntary Robotics Club—where pre-service teachers learned about robotics in the fall term and taught robotics in kindergarten–grade 8 schools during the winter term—enabled them to dispel their erroneous beliefs. Drawing on extant literature on misconceptions, our theoretical framework involved (1) identifying the complex systems of misperceptions that pre-service teachers held; (2) introducing anomalous information to them; and (3) immersing them in contexts where their experience would shatter their misperceptions. Through a thematic analysis of a pre-survey that was administered prior to their involvement in the club, focus group interviews conducted near the end of winter term, and anecdotal evidence from the school visits, we found that pre-service teachers’ (n = 13) main misperceptions were fueled by stereotypes that made them doubt their ability to teach robotics and doubt their students’ ability to learn robotics. However, teaching robotics in schools ousted these misperceptions. As pre-service teachers experienced success in teaching robotics and as they witnessed students’ engagement, their perspectives shifted from “I/they can’t” to “I/they can”. Consequently, rather than simply learning about robotics in their Bachelor of Education programmes, we argue that being equipped and immersed in the new context of teaching robotics in schools is not only integral for demystifying pre-service teachers’ misperceptions about robotics, but also essential for their future implementation of robotics.