The Influences of LEGO Mindstorms NXT on Creativity of Aboriginal Students in Taiwan-A Case Study of an Energy, Robotics and Creativity Course
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2012 2nd International Conference on Future Computers in Education
Lecture Notes in Information Technology, Vols.23-24
The Influences of LEGO Mindstorms NXT on Creativity of Aboriginal
Students in Taiwan-A Case Study of an Energy, Robotics and Creativity
Course
Jenyi Chao
Graduate School of Educational Communications and Technology
National Taipei University of Education
jychao@tea.ntue.edu.tw
Keywords: Creativity, Energy, Indigenous Taiwanese Students, LEGO Mindstorms NXT, Robotics
Abstract. The purpose of this study is to observe the influence of LEGO Mindstorms NXT on
indigenous Taiwanese students’ creativity in an Energy, Robotics and Creativity course. The
participants were 49 Taiwanese students from the Atayal Tribe, including 22 fourth grade students, 16
fifth grade students and 11 sixth grade students. The course took four months and the “Torrance Tests
of Creative Thinking” were used as pre and post tests to evaluate five mental characteristics of
creativity: fluency, originality, elaboration, abstractness of titles, and resistance to closure. The major
results were: 1. The average scores and percentiles of the creativity index of indigenous Taiwanese
students have been fostered. 2. The standard score of fluency was significantly improved. Also, the
scores of elaboration, and resistance to closure were increased. Generally speaking, this course
reinforced students’ creativity.
1. Introduction
The Nan-ao, Ji-Nan township of Yi-lan county in Taiwan is mainly populated by the Atayal Tribe, an
indigenous Taiwanese group. The Atayal have passed down skills in weaving, farming, hunting,
singing and dancing. These traditional skills are often based on nature and merge with nature. The
originality and creativity of these skills contribute to the elegance of the Atayal culture [1]. We
investigated the creativity of Atayal children during a robot course using LEGO Mindstorms NXT.
A total of 49 Atayal children from Nan-ao participated in a collaborative energy robot course using
LEGO Mindstorms NXT. The course was designed to be rich in Atayal culture and legends, and
through programming and hands on experience, the children learned the technical concepts
associated with energy and robots. Using the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, we examined the
influence of the LEGO Mindstorms NXT course on the creativity of Atayal children. Based on the
objectives above, we addressed the following research questions in this study. After participating in
this course, how do the Atayal children of Nan-ao differ in terms of (1) the creativity index? and (2)
the five creativity elements of sensitivity, fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration?
2. Literature Review
2.1 Robots
In robot education in Taiwan, the most common kits employed in junior high schools and elementary
schools are made by LEGO Mindstorms. LEGO Mindstorms is the achievement of a 15-year
978-1-61275-014-9/10/$25.00 ©2012 IERI ICFCE2012
148collaborative project between the Danish LEGO Group and the MIT Media Lab and was introduced
to the market in 1998. In 2006, Microsoft began investing in robotics education in the computer
science domain. In 2008, Microsoft announced Microsoft Robotics Studio (1.5), a new development
platform supporting the graphical interface programming of LEGO Mindstorms robots, in an attempt
to lead robotics education [2,3,4]. When choosing a robotics system, teachers are advised to consider
the number and integrity of suppliers and the development environment, whether the assembly kit is
easy to use, and whether the kit is suitable for the logical programming concepts and creativity of
their students. This study employed the educational version of LEGO Mindstorms NXT and
investigated its influence on the creativity of Atayal children from Nan-ao.
Many experts consider LEGO Mindstorms to be concrete objects that users can see, touch, operate
directly, and receive immediate feedback. Moreover, LEGO Mindstorms are attractive, as they come
in many colors and shapes. Beginners learn through their experience in actual contact with the robots,
which in turn enhances interest in learning. One of the advantages of using LEGO Mindstorms is that
beginners do not have to understand the internal hardware structure to operate the robot. What is
worthy of note is that the graphical programming platform and powerful development environment of
LEGO Mindstorms enables learners to link the desired motions to judgment conditions using the
graphical box script and structural grammar, whereby they can create logical codes. This reduces the
difficulty of learning programming language, and learners can devote more attention on creative
design and problem solving [5,6,7]. These are the reasons this study employed NXT in instruction.
2.2 Related Research
Shih [8] employed robots in an elementary school science and life technology class to investigate the
feasibility of such a course design and its influence on child creativity. Using a quasi-experimental
research design, the study involved 35 students from two sixth grade classes at Dong Hai Elementary
School in Taitung County. Randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group, the
experimental group received instruction involving LEGO robots whereas the control group received
conventional instruction. The teaching experiment encompassed 24 classes in 6 weeks. The results of
the study show that LEGO robots are suitable for science and life technology classes in elementary
schools, that they result in increased learning effectiveness, and can partly enhance the creative
abilities of school children.
Li [9] divided students into 3 groups and implemented a LEGO Dacta course in the form of group
learning. Observations and the contents of the student conversations during class were subjected to
content analysis to determine the impact of the course on problem-solving skills. Li discovered that
LEGO Dacta course activities provided students with an optimal application environment for science
process skills; the activities enhanced the problem-solving skills and creativity of the students, and
the students learned how to solve problems using computer programs.
Wu [10] investigated the influence of web-assisted LEGO Dacta courses on the problem-solving
attitudes of school children using a quasi-experimental research design. The 15-hour course led to the
following results: the problem-solving attitudes of students receiving web-assisted LEGO Dacta
courses and those receiving general LEGO Dacta courses did not differ significantly. Students in the
web-assisted instruction group showed greater improvement than those in the control group in
problem-solving attitude, problem-solving confidence, approach-avoidance style, and personal
control. In addition, web-assisted instruction was capable of stimulating student interest in learning.
The majority of previous studies indicate that LEGO Dacta is beneficial to the creativity and
problem-solving skills of school children and provides a cooperative learning environment. This
study also endeavored to understand the influence of robotics education on the creativity of Atayal
children from Nan-ao.
1493. Creativity
3.1 Definition of creativity
Creativity is an essential ability of human beings as well as the driving force behind human progress.
Systematic studies on this concept were few until Guilford emphasized the importance of creativity at
the American Psychological Association in 1965. What is creativity? According to Guilford,
creativity is a thinking ability with the following five characteristics: sensitivity, fluency, flexibility,
originality, and elaboration [11,12].
The instruments used to assess creativity include Form A and Form B of Torrance Tests of Creative
Thinking, Williams’ Creativity Test, creativity tests, and creativity quality scales [13].
3.2 Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking
The figural Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking include two types: Form A and Form B. The tests
require 30 minutes to complete three activities: graph construction, picture completion, and parallel
lines. Each activity takes 10 minutes. The students are assessed in terms of five characteristics:
fluency, originality, title, elaboration, and openness. A creativity potential checklist further evaluated
the other strengths of the students. The five characteristics are as follows: (1) fluency refers to the
capacity to produce a large amount of graphical images and measures the number of creations; (2)
originality is the responsive capacity to produce unusual or unique creations; (3) title refers to the
abstractness of the title; (4) elaboration involves the methods used to develop, retouch, decorate, or
finish the creation; (5) openness is the resistance to premature closure. The scale includes 13
indicators for the potential of creativity: (1) emotional expressiveness, (2) story-telling articulateness,
(3) movement or actions, (4) expressiveness of titles, (5) syntheses of incomplete figures, (6)
synthesis of lines, or of circles, (7) unusual visualization, (9) extending or breaking boundaries, (10)
humor, (11) richness of imagery, (12) colorfulness of imagery, and (13) fantasy [14].
4. Research design and data analysis
A quasi-experimental one-group pretest-posttest design was adopted in this study. The participants
comprised 49 Atayal children from Nan-ao, including 22 fourth graders, 16 fifth graders, and 11 sixth
graders. The robotics course in this study covered 6 LEGO Mindstorms NXT units (types of energy,
elementary renewable energy: wind energy, structure and force, gears and pulleys, image rotation and
mirror exercises, and charades) in 24 classes (40 minutes per class) over a period of 4 months (1
semester). Collaborative instruction was conducted in groups. The participants were divided into 8
groups with 6 or 7 people in each group and fourth, fifth, and sixth graders in every group. Before and
after the course, the figural Form A and Form B of Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking were
administered with Form A as the pretest and Form B as the posttest. A paired-sample t test was
employed to examine the development of creativity.
5. Research results
5.1. Differences in creativity indicators
The creativity indicators and percentages in Table 1 present the development of creativity in the
Atayal children. After 4 months (one semester), the posttest (Form B) scores were higher than the
pretest (Form A) scores. However, the t test showed no significant difference. In percentile rank, the
students improved from 12 percent to 17 percent.
Table 1 Creativity indicators and percentile rank before and after robotics course
Creativity
Percentile rank of creativity indicator
Grade indicator
150Form A Form B Form A Form B
Fourth 77.50 82.23 3.00 12.00
Fifth 91.69 94.00 31.00 35.00
Sixth 77.91 78.55 8.00 9.00
Total average 82.22 85.24 12.00 17.00
Standard
14.07 14.88 N/A N/A
deviation
5.2 Differences in five creativity capabilities
Tables 2 and 3 show the averages, standard deviations, and t test P values of the Form A and Form B
tests in the five Torrance dimensions. The data in the tables indicate that in fluency, elaboration, and
openness, the average scores obtained by the 49 participants in Form B were higher than those in
Form A. In originality and title, the averages in Form B were lower than those in Form A. In fluency,
the difference between Form A and Form B was 0.042, reaching level of significance and indicating
significant improvement in Form B. In originality, the difference between Form A and Form B was
0.008, reaching level of significance and indicating significant regression in Form B. In title,
elaboration, and openness, the differences between Form A and Form B were not significant.
Table 2 Five torrance dimensions-descriptive statistics
Number Average Standard deviation
Fluency-Form A 49 37.80 24.548
Fluency-Form B 49 45.82 29.512
Originality-Form A 49 35.39 26.258
Originality-Form B 49 23.41 18.511
Title-Form A 49 12.65 16.455
Title-Form B 49 9.71 17.508
Elaboration-Form A 49 7.14 8.737
Elaboration-Form B 49 11.10 14.652
Openness-Form A 49 8.45 9.507
Openness-Form B 49 11.39 11.791
Table 3 Differences between Form A and Form B in the five Torrance dimensions
Pair Average Standard deviation Signficance
(two tail)
Fluency-Form B- Fluency-Form A 8.020 26.929 .042*
Originality-Form B- Originality-Form A -11.980 30.455 .008**
Title-Form B- Title-Form A -2.939 20.000 .309
Elaboration-Form B- Elaboration-Form A 3.959 14.163 .056
Openness-Form B- Openness-Form A 2.939 10.507 .056
* indicates significanceposttest. We speculate that because the students did not receive stimulation from the outside world,
they could not further improve in unusual or unique creation. Regarding this, we suggest that further
research be conducted with an experimental group and a control group to confirm these speculations
and further understand the performance of Atayal children in originality.
7. Acknowledgement
This research was financially supported by the National Science Council of Taiwan (Grant NO. NSC
98-2511-S-152-006, 99-2511-S-152-002, 100-2511-S-152-002).The author thanks Ms. Chou,
Shih-Min for her contribution to this paper.
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