Development and Validation of a Problem Solving Skill Test in Robot Programming Using Scaffolding Tools

Supree Purnakanishtha, Praweenya Suwannatthachote, Prachyanun Nilsook

Faculty of Education, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Faculty of Technical Education, King’s Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand.

DOI: 10.4236/jss.2014.22007                

Abstract

Problem solving is a crucial skill for students who experience learning and living in the 21st century. To enhance this skill, students need to face a situation setting problem, then students solve the problem. After students overcome the obstacles, feelings of pride and success grow in students’ hearts. Successful minds of students will lead the students to become problem solvers and will be embedded into their thought process. It is quite hard to find the right way to establish the problem solving skill. Robot programming is a selective course for the secondary level of education for Thai schools. The activities in this program provide students a chance to identify the problem, identify and analyze the cause of the problem, propose a problem solving method and examine the problem solving result. The problem solving skill test (PSST) included 4 levels of problem solving skills as well. PSST consisted of 57 multiple-choice items. The test can bridge the content of robot programming and the problem solving skills. It is useful for evaluating the skill progress in secondary schools in Thailand.

Keywords

Problem Solving Skill; Scaffolding; Assessment

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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