Literature review of robotics learning devices to facilitate the development of computational thinking in early childhood (original) (raw)
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The Influence of Educational Robotics to Computational Thinking Skill in Early Childhood Education
2018
Computational Thinking (CT) has been becoming prominent in educational literature for its appeal as an alternative for problem-solving. The teaching of CT skill in secondary and higher education, however, remains the focus of scholarly research in the mainstream databases. A literature review was carried out to examine the use of robots and computational thinking skill in childhood. Three different databases and digital libraries were nominated for their vast number of papers and the wide coverage of readership. Specific keywords applied in the literature analysis were computational thinking and educational robotics to early childhood. This paper amasses the understanding of the impact CT on education suggested in the literature. The discussion section elaborates the advantage of educational robotics to improve CT skill, various means CT achievement assessment and adoption robotics to improve learning pertinent to early childhood education. Finally, the paper proposes the importance...
Development of Computational Thinking Skills through Educational Robotics
2018
Computational thinking (CT) is an important concept in modern education. The scientific community is not only investigating the skills involved in CT but, is also trying to establish how these skills can be developed and through what technological means. Meanwhile, a few studies have investigated the effectiveness of educational robotics (ER) as technological means which can support the development of CT but, issues of measurement of CT (i.e., using validated instruments) seem to hinder the validity of these investigations. In this paper, two quasi-experimental studies were conducted to address students’ CT gains linked to their participation in ER activities. The first study was conducted at a primary school in the Eastern Mediterranean; 15 consented students participated in ER activities for five weeks. The second study included 16 students in a secondary school in the same region, who participated in ER activities for three months. Quantitative results, based on a valid measure o...
Computational Thinking Initiation. An experience with robots in Primary Education
Journal of Research in Science Mathematics and Technology Education
Computational Thinking (CT) is an increasingly interesting educational trend, since it is currently thought that the next generation will need to master this skill in order to succeed in modern life. At the same time, research indicates that motivation is a key element that affects the effectiveness of educational processes. Consequently, educators should take into account this fact when designing teaching sequences. In this paper, we present a robotics-based instruction for third-grade students aimed at introducing computational thinking ideas. The experience was carried out with 63 students. An assessment of different indicators concerning learning outcomes, such as mental rotation or computation thinking gains, was performed. In particular, from a motivational perspective, a test developed by Keller (1983; was employed in order to assess four dimensions: attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction. Results show the participants' high motivation after working with robot computational ideas. These results may eventually support the use of educational robotics in order to promote students' development of computational thinking in primary schools.
A Case Study on How Children Develop Computational Thinking Collaboratively with Robotics Toys
International Journal of Educational Technology and Learning
This article reports on a case study on how robotics toys provide the affordances for developing computational thinking (henceforth abbreviated to CT) in young learners. The three key constructs of CT-abstraction, algorithms and automation-are used in the research. The study results identify how children interact with robotics toys collaboratively and acquire CT skills. Problems were presented to the children through planned nonroutine and immersive collaborative group activities. The Situations in which they externalised their inquiries and internalised new knowledge were observed. A detailed examination of the data collected was made to determine which robotics toys mediated the children's acquisition while seamlessly switching between individual and collaborative activities and has led to the development of a framework of the stages in CT learning designs. This paper synthesises the relevant classroom activity designs in addressing CT as a general term that involves solving problems, entails a whole set of mental tools that enable people to reduce complex problems into readily solvable subtasks and composes algorithms that are executable by machines. Moreover, the article will also include details and analyses of the selection of commercially available technologies for developing CT in the young learners in the study.
International Journal of STEM Education
Background Educational robotics (ER) is increasingly used in classrooms to implement activities aimed at fostering the development of students’ computational thinking (CT) skills. Though previous works have proposed different models and frameworks to describe the underlying concepts of CT, very few have discussed how ER activities should be implemented in classrooms to effectively foster CT skill development. Particularly, there is a lack of operational frameworks, supporting teachers in the design, implementation, and assessment of ER activities aimed at CT skill development. The current study therefore presents a model that allows teachers to identify relevant CT concepts for different phases of ER activities and aims at helping them to appropriately plan instructional interventions. As an experimental validation, the proposed model was used to design and analyze an ER activity aimed at overcoming a problem that is often observed in classrooms: the trial-and-error loop, i.e., an o...
The Place of Educational Robotics in Learner's Computational Thinking: A Qualitative Study
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), 2021
Owing to the impact created by Lego-robots based activities on learners, this study seeks to find out the place it holds in the development of young learners' computational thinking. Before embarking on this study, the author had the privilege to work with some Chinese grade five and six students as a volunteer. She reflected serially on the appropriate integration Lego robots implement to enhance computational thinking. Through these reflections, she realized that the Lego robot's use increases learners' ability to think, solve problems, and reason critically. One of the essential facets of her reflective practice was considering how students can extend this knowledge of building Lego-robot bricks to their daily lives and how their view of their environment will change. These compelled the research on educational robotics in learners' computational thinking. The researcher conducted this qualitative study in a community Training Center in Huzhou in Wuxing District Zhejiang Province, China. The research looked into how Lego-robot bricks develop students' computational thinking in problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity and what challenges teachers and students faced in the infusion of these Lego-robots bricks.
Informatics
Research has shown that educational robotics can be an effective tool to increase students’ acquisition of knowledge in the subjects of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and promote, at the same time, a progression in the development of computational thinking (CT) skills in K–12 (kindergarten to 12th grade) education. Within this research field, the present study first sought to assess the effect of a robotics laboratory on the acquisition of CT-related skills in primary school children. The study also aimed to compare the magnitude of the effect of the laboratory across third- and fourth-grade students. For the purpose of the study, a quasi-experimental post-test-only design was adopted, and a group of 51 students, from third- and fourth-grade classrooms, participating in the robotics laboratories, were compared to a control group of 32 students from classrooms of the same grades. A set of Bebras tasks was selected as an overall measure of CT skills and was administ...
Computational thinking and robotics in education
Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality, 2019
After the computational thinking sessions in the previous 2016-2018 editions of TEEM Conference, the fourth edition of this track has been organized in the current 2019 edition. Computational thinking is still a very significant topic, especially, but not only, in pre-university education. In this edition, the robotic has a special role in the track, with a strength relationship with the STEM and STEAM education of children at the pre-university levels, seeding the future of our society.
Nurturing Secondary School Student Computational Thinking Through Educational Robotics
International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET), 2022
Digital literacy is becoming a key factor in today’s digital revolution age. Computational Thinking (CT) is a new digital literacy that is gradually being introduced in the school curriculum due to its applicability in the daily problem-solving process. Educational Robotics (ER) has been increasingly used as a pedagogical tool to attract students to learn computer programming, and when integrated with CT, they can be used to develop high-order thinking skills. However, intertwining between CT and ER remains a challenge for teachers. This paper describes a method to expose secondary school children to CT concepts and skills through ER learning activities. The method integrates the four CT core concepts, which are problem analysis and algorithm; abstraction; pattern recognition; and decomposition, in a two days’ ER workshop implementation. The result of the study shows that the method of integrating CT with ER has the potential to nurture students’ CT and programming skills. This stud...