Dragons, Ladybugs, and Softballs: Girls’ STEM Engagement with Human-Centered Robotics Andrea Gomoll 1 • Cindy E. Hmelo-Silver 1 • Selma S ˇ abanovic ´ 1 • Matthew Francisco 1 Published online: 29 August 2016 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016 Abstract Early experiences in science, technology, engi- neering, and math (STEM) are important for getting youth interested in STEM fields, particularly for girls. Here, we explore how an after-school robotics club can provide informal STEM experiences that inspire students to engage with STEM in the future. Human-centered robotics, with its emphasis on the social aspects of science and technol- ogy, may be especially important for bringing girls into the STEM pipeline. Using a problem-based approach, we designed two robotics challenges. We focus here on the more extended second challenge, in which participants were asked to imagine and build a telepresence robot that would allow others to explore their space from a distance. This research follows four girls as they engage with human-centered telepresence robotics design. We con- structed case studies of these target participants to explore their different forms of engagement and phases of interest development—considering facets of behavioral, social, cognitive, and conceptual-to-consequential engagement as well as stages of interest ranging from triggered interest to well-developed individual interest. The results demon- strated that opportunities to personalize their robots and feedback from peers and facilitators were important motivators. We found both explicit and vicarious engage- ment and varied interest phases in our group of four focus participants. This first iteration of our project demonstrated that human-centered robotics is a promising approach to getting girls interested and engaged in STEM practices. As we design future iterations of our robotics club environ- ment, we must consider how to harness multiple forms of leadership and engagement without marginalizing students with different working preferences. Keywords Human-centered robotics Á Telepresence robotics Á Engagement Á Interest development Á Problem- based learning Introduction Early experiences in STEM are important for getting youth interested in scientific and technical fields (Tai et al. 2006). In the research presented here, we explore how an after- school robotics club can provide an informal STEM experience to youth through a focus on human-centered robotics (HCR), particularly because of its emphasis on the social aspects of science and technology. Robotics also provides opportunities for youth to engage in ‘‘tinkering’’ which may be a precursor of sustained STEM interest (Crowley et al. 2015; Swarat et al. 2012). Although the National Science Foundation (NSF) defines STEM fields to include the social/behavioral sciences, mathematics, natu- ral sciences, engineering, and computer and information sciences (Green 2007), STEM curricula regularly separate the development of technical skills and knowledge from analysis of the social and cultural contexts in which people practice and experience them. Scientific discoveries and technological artifacts both affect society through their & Andrea Gomoll agomoll@indiana.edu Cindy E. Hmelo-Silver chmelosi@indiana.edu Selma S ˇ abanovic ´ selmas@indiana.edu Matthew Francisco francm@indiana.edu 1 Indiana University, 1900 E. 10th St., Bloomington, IN 47401, USA 123 J Sci Educ Technol (2016) 25:899–914 DOI 10.1007/s10956-016-9647-z