Science teachers have been urged to use emerging technologies, such as robots, in ways that empower K-12 students as active participants responsible for their learning and knowledge development within the scientific domain. And yet, little is known about whether the use of robots effectively supports students’ epistemic agency in science learning. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate to what extent elementary preservice teachers use educational robots in ways that promote epistemic agency in science lessons. Seven data sources were gathered for this study: individual reflections about lesson planning and lesson design, team reflection about teaching with robots, robotics-enhanced science lessons, posters, video-recorded presentations about designed lessons, and participant interview. A framework of epistemic practices for science inquiry was adopted to analyze the data followed by qualitative thematic analysis. Results indicate that the use of robots in science lessons promotes content assimilation rather than self-driven inquiry, robot movement rather than evidence drives science explanations, science activities with robots are situated in a social vacuum, and robot assembly and programming are underutilized in the lessons. Implications for preservice science teacher education and future research are discussed.

人们敦促科学教师使用机器人等新兴技术，使 K-12 学生成为积极的参与者，负责他们在科学领域的学习和知识发展。然而，人们对机器人的使用是否能有效支持学生在科学学习中的认知机构知之甚少。这个定性案例研究的目的是调查小学职前教师在多大程度上使用教育机器人来促进科学课程中的认知机构。这项研究收集了七个数据源：关于课程计划和课程设计的个人反思、关于机器人教学的团队反思、机器人增强的科学课程、海报、关于设计课程的视频记录演示以及参与者访谈。采用科学探究的认知实践框架来分析数据，然后进行定性主题分析。结果表明，在科学课程中使用机器人促进内容同化而不是自我驱动的探究，机器人运动而不是证据驱动科学解释，机器人的科学活动处于社会真空中，机器人组装和编程在课程中没有得到充分利用。讨论了对职前科学教师教育和未来研究的影响。