The Ideal Science Student: Exploring the Relationship of Students' Perceptions to their Problem Solving Activity in a Robotics Context.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship of middle school students' perceptions of the ideal science stu-dent to their problem solving activity and conceptual under-standing in the applied science area of robotics. Twenty-six 11 and 12 year-olds (22 boys) attending a summer camp for academically advanced students participated in the study. This correlational study utilizes survey and observational data. Students completed the ideal science student survey and individually engaged in a problem solving activity that was videotaped. Students were instructed to think-aloud during the problem solving session. The final programming solution students created was scored using a conceptual rubric. Two dominant perceptions of the ideal science student were iden-tified, a traits-based view and a process-oriented view. Stu-dents with a traits-based view tended to use domain general strategies to solve the robotics problem. Whereas, students with a process-oriented view tended to use domain specific strategies, Chi-Square (1, n=24) = 4.608, p = .03. Students with the process-oriented view evidenced stronger conceptual understanding in their final program solutions as revealed by an ANOVA, F (1, 22) = 5.367, p = .03. Qualitative analysis of the data indicates that students with the process-oriented view modeled, verified and expanded their understanding of the use of specific tools in the environment. Implications of these findings for pre-service science teachers and the design of learning environments are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]