#966: Designing for Collaboration: An Engineering Notebook to Scaffold Collaborative Problem-Solving in Middle School Robotics

Engineering notebooks are pervasive in K-12 robotics as a record of work throughout the competitive season. While these team notebooks are designed to document the engineering design process and students’ learning, they have the potential to foster effective collaboration, with students working together rather than in parallel. Capitalizing on this potential, we introduce a new type of robotics (VEX IQ) engineering notebook designed to facilitate collaborative learning for middle schoolers. By integrating pair programming, the Engineering Design Process, and structured prompts for team and code reflection, our notebook serves as an intervention that transforms documentation practice, scaffolds collaborative problem-solving, and makes collaboration a central tenet of the engineering experience.