As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly prevalent in society, there is a critical need for accessible K-12 educational resources that introduce students to AI and robotics concepts through engaging, hands-on experiences. In this paper, we present a scalable workshop framework that uses narrative-driven problem solving to teach fundamental AI and autonomous systems concepts to students in grades 5-12. Developed through a collaboration between AI researchers and education specialists, Bot Blitz employs Sphero RVR+ robots within immersive storylines ranging from fairground rescue missions for younger students to urban traffic management scenarios for high schoolers. Preliminary observations from workshops with 56 students show high engagement levels and successful completion of programming challenges.

Engineering students conceptualize problems in diverse ways depending how the problems are presented. In this study, we investigate how different representations of problems, such as with images and sketches versus traditional word description of problems, allow students to recall information. Some students experience difficulties visualizing a concept when given a word problem while others do not have the same difficulty. A plausible explanation is that students who have less difficulties may be more creative problem solvers or have a better understanding of the material. Data for this study was taken from 132 students enrolled in an introductory thermodynamics course in a large Midwestern university. Half of the participants (n=65) were asked to recognize applications of Laws of Thermodynamics in comparison to the other half (n=67) who were presented with images and asked to identify which Law of Thermodynamics was being depicted. We hypothesized that a higher percentage of students presented with only the images would answer correctly questions of the Laws of Thermodynamics compared to the students who were presented with a standard text description of the problems and asked to answer the questions. The results did not corroborate with our hypothesis. Findings revealed nearly identical performance. In this exploratory study, we discuss outcomes in terms of the underlying links between students' abilities to recall information and the potential of visual representations to enhance learning of thermodynamics-related concepts.