The Impact of Participation in VEX Robotics Competition on Middle and High School Students’ Interest in Pursuing STEM Studies and STEM-related Careers

Abstract The Impact Participation in VEX Robotics Competition on Middle and High School Students’ Interest in Pursuing STEM Studies and STEM-related CareersVEX Robotics Competition (VRC) is an international program for middle and high schoolstudents that has as its goal to engage student participants in the study of science, technology,engineering, and math (STEM) through a competition in which students build innovative robotsto solve a challenge. Currently, over 3500 teams representing 20 countries compete globally eachyear in VRC. Through the competition, students are expected to devise creative solutions todifficult problems, work as a team, learn sportsmanship, communicate effectively, and buildleadership skill. An important objective of VEX Robotics Competition is to inspire students topursue STEM-related education and career paths.This research report describes findings from the first external evaluation of VRC, which wascompleted in May 2011. Three hundred forty-one (341) middle and high school students and 345VRC Team Leaders completed online surveys that measured perceptions of the impact of VRCparticipation on student interest in STEM education and STEM careers. In addition, 70 studentswere interviewed in focus groups, and 37 Team Leaders were interviewed one-on-one and infocus groups, which allowed participants to provide in-depth responses about ways VRCparticipation impacted student interest in STEM education and careers.Results indicated that a large majority of students and Team Leaders agreed that VRCparticipation positively impacted students’ interest in STEM. Students reported (a) wanting tolearn more about robotics (92%) and engineering (90%), (b) becoming more interested in havinga job in a STEM or computer field (87%), (c) becoming more interested in taking engineeringcourses in college (83%) and (d) becoming more interested in taking additional math or scienceclasses in high school or college (75%). Team Leaders also perceived increased student interestin STEM areas due to their participation in VRC, and increases were greatest in (a) wanting tolearn more about robotics (95%), (b) wanting to learn more about engineering design (91%), and(c) wanting to learn more about computer programing (87%).Higher percentages of boys than girls agreed that VRC had made them more interested in takingengineering classes in college, having a STEM career, learning more about computerprogramming, and learning more about engineering design. However, a higher percentage ofgirls than boys reported that VRC made them want to learn more about robotics and made themmore interested in taking additional math and science classes in high school and college.Team Leaders who are also teachers reported that VRC students are (a) more comfortable usingcomputers (81% agreed) and (b) more interested in taking additional or harder computer classes(70%), math classes (72%), or science classes (70%) than are their non-VRC peers. Students andTeam Leaders provided stories, anecdotes, and experiences in focus groups and interviews thatillustrated the ways student interest in STEM increased due to VRC participation. Themes fromthese qualitative data sources will be provided in the full paper.