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 Rafael Garcia Avila                Garcia Home        Learn More        Standards        Inspiration        About the Author

Assessing Instructional Materials & Coding and Robotics in Math.

Using Google Classroom has opened a new window of assigning, submitting, grading, returning assignments, regrading and provides an infinite amount of feedback to students individually or as a group. It can also be used in assessing assignments, student feedback or student videos and assessments. Below are multiple resources that demonstrate student assessments in the following modalities: an exit ticket after a lesson, two videos showcasing student videos from the final coding challenge and two codes demonstrating the expected commands to code in the final coding challenge. 
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Exit Ticket - Coding
(Click on picture to the left to see the form)

​This exit ticket was a way to assess student learning after a coding lesson. The questions asked in the form were three quick and short answer to check for understanding.
Videos from Coding and Robotics Final Challenges
(Click the pictures to view two examples)

​These videos show virtual linkbots riding along the 2016 mat as a result of codes students made. The challenge was to create a code to start the at box A and end facing north at box X. 
Codes from Coding and Robotics Final Challenges
(Click the pictures to view two examples)

​These codes were created by students as their final robotics challenge. The requirements for the left were shown in the videos above. As for he right code, students had to code multiple commands like driving forwards and backwards, turning left and right, and starting and ending at the same position.

Research Results - Student Engagement and Attendance

Driving question with regards to student engagement:
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How does using computing and robotics affect the engagement of students in the mathematics classroom?
According to the data and graph above, there is very little to no difference in correlation between students grades from one grading period to the other. In looking at the table and graph, it is clear that the number of each letter grade is the same or slightly different from one grading period to the second. Although, the raw data shows that 18 students improved their grade percentage while 11 of the students declined. In conclusion, students grades had greater gains in grade percentage since the average of the differences yield a positive result; namely, a 22.45% average increase. Click on Appendix B for full table of grade comparison. (Appendix B)
The data above shows that there was a minimal difference in student feelings; the biggest difference was in the Not So Well response which increased from 4 to 7.  These graphics coincide with student comments, but not with grade comparison (bar graph, table and analysis above). Student comments (click to view them all), revealed that coding and robotics was a positive experience and learning opportunity. The discrepancy between student comments and grade comparison was a result of an attendance problem that exists at our school. Thus, I decided to continue my research and take a closer look at the attendance issue.
Driving Question with regards to attendance:
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How does Computing and Robotics affects student attendance in the mathematics classroom and school-wide?
Attendance Analysis between regular mathematics instruction versus coding and robotics days.

The data yield that there was a minor difference in attendance between regular math instruction and coding and robotics days. The difference was close to 4.5% higher attendance on math instruction days. According to school records, the overall attendance was 73%. Thus, my student attendance shows a higher rate by 1% and 5% respectively.
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