This rigorous analysis from the first year found that students who participated in this middle school STEM summer program in robotics on math achievement and student interest in STEM subjects and careers, which culminated in a city-wide tournament, had significantly higher school attendance the following year compared to a matched comparison group who did not attend summer school.
This suggests that high-interest, hands-on learning activities like robotics may help to increase student engagement with school. For more details read the full brief or review the presentation made at SREE September 2014