Learning with Robots: Teaching and Supporting Productive Struggle in a Math Methods Course

In 2014 NCTM advocated for productive struggle by expressing the need for teachers to allow their students the time necessary to grapple with their mathematical "uncertainties." We posit pre-service teachers need opportunities to productively struggle when learning and applying their mathematical understanding in order to understand how productive struggle can support their future mathematics students' development of critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaborative skills. The participants in this research were seven pre-service teachers in an undergraduate, middle grades mathematics course during Fall 2019 or Spring 2020. The focus of this research was to investigate how the pre-service teachers experiences with productive struggle as they learned about, and with, Lego robotics informed their understanding of the benefit of productive struggle. A qualitative framework incorporating an action research format was utilized for the data collection and analysis. Findings show pre-service teachers benefit from the opportunity to experience productive struggle, which informs their ability to create opportunities for productive struggle while planning lessons that incorporate Lego robotics for their future students.