Secondary School Students' Opinions on Educational Robotic Applications

ABSTRACT

In this study, it is aimed to determine the opinions of secondary school students about educational robotics applications. The case study, which is one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the research. The research was carried out with 7th grade students of two different secondary schools in the Battalgazi district of Malatya province in the 2021-2022 academic year. The study group of the research consisted of 18 students, who were determined according to the purposive sampling method. In the study group, science lesson teaching was carried out with educational robotic applications for about two months. The data of the study were obtained with a semi-structured interview form consisting of seven questions developed by the researchers. Descriptive analysis method was used in the analysis of the obtained data. As a result of the research, most of the students stated that they liked the activities, associated the applications with daily life, their interest in the science lesson increased, they worked in collaborative groups, the lessons were fun, and they wanted robotics training sets to be used in their lessons in the future. In addition, some of the students stated that they found the applications confusing at the beginning of the studies, that they had difficulties in the coding part and that there were in-group discussions. In line with the findings, suggestions were made regarding the use of robotic applications in teaching science courses.