Pilot analysis of the impacts of soft robotics design on high-school student engineering perceptions

Engineering career interest, especially that of young women, declines as they approach high-school graduation. We used expectancy-value theory, which emphasizes expectations for success and subjective value of experiences as antecedent factors to choice, as a framework for investigating new 9th grade soft robot design lessons. Compared to traditional robotics, the nature of soft robotics—materially embedded safety and an emerging technology with significant social implications—positions it to be favorable for growing students’ perceptions of success and value. To gauge the impact of the lessons following the first year of implementation, we use multilevel and ANOVA models to predict changes in three student perceptions following the lessons: self-efficacy (related to expectations of success), and situational motivation and career interest (both related to subjective value). Survey responses and demographic information were collected from 431 students, before and after both the soft robotics treatment lessons and the traditional robotics comparison lessons. Analysis of the results indicates that changes in perception were negligible for both lesson types and genders. These comparable findings between the lesson types indicate the feasibility of incorporating soft robotics into high-school classrooms. While not noticeably better, the soft robotics lessons expose students to an emerging field of engineering situated in a socially meaningful context that is theoretically aligned with career choices. Moreover, challenges that occurred during the first-year implementation suggest possible refinements which may improve students’ experiences and perceptions as our research continues.