Title: Motivating students' learning in science and technology by using robots

Authors: Junlong Zhang; Ivan Ka Wai Lai; Weiwei Xu

Addresses: School of Business, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, Macau, China ' Faculty of International Tourism and Management, City University of Macau, Taipa, Macau ' Macau Institute of Smart City, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, Macau, China

Abstract: Nowadays, science and technology (S&T) are one of the significant impetuses for economy and development. Therefore, how to arouse students' interest and inspire their motivation toward S&T becomes a hot topic for researchers and educators. The aim of the study is to evaluate how a robot (or a group of robots) can stimulate college students' interest in science and technology and motivate them to learn S&T. A case study was conducted in the Macau University of Science and Technology where robots were brought in the campus in September 2017. An online questionnaire survey was carried out and 264 valid data were analysed by using SmartPLS. The results show that the appearance and functionality of robots affect students' interest in robots, further indirectly affects interest in S&T, and ultimately motivate students to learn S&T.

Keywords: robots; science and technology; features and functions; motivation; interest.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIL.2020.107620

International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 2020 Vol.27 No.4, pp.395 - 410

Received: 13 Dec 2018
Accepted: 10 Jun 2019
Published online: 02 Jun 2020 *

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