Computational thinking and tinkering: Exploration of an early childhood robotics curriculum

By engaging in construction-based robotics activities, children as young as four can play to learn a range of concepts. The TangibleK Robotics Program paired developmentally appropriate computer programming and robotics tools with a constructionist curriculum designed to engage kindergarten children...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Computers and education Vol. 72; pp. 145 - 157
Main Authors: Bers, Marina Umaschi, Flannery, Louise, Kazakoff, Elizabeth R., Sullivan, Amanda
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.03.2014
Subjects:
Early childhood
Elementary education
Interactive learning environments
Pedagogical issues
Programming
robotics
Teaching/learning strategies
Early childhood
Interactive learning environments
Pedagogical issues
robotics
Programming
Teaching/learning strategies
Elementary education
ISSN:0360-1315, 1873-782X
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:By engaging in construction-based robotics activities, children as young as four can play to learn a range of concepts. The TangibleK Robotics Program paired developmentally appropriate computer programming and robotics tools with a constructionist curriculum designed to engage kindergarten children in learning computational thinking, robotics, programming, and problem-solving. This paper documents three kindergarten classrooms' exposure to computer programming concepts and explores learning outcomes. Results point to strengths of the curriculum and areas where further redesign of the curriculum and technologies would be appropriate. Overall, the study demonstrates that kindergartners were both interested in and able to learn many aspects of robotics, programming, and computational thinking with the TangibleK curriculum design. •We explore the efficacy of an early childhood robotics and programming curriculum.•53 kindergarteners used developmentally appropriate robotics and programming tools.•Children's concept mastery tended to be high but varied with concept difficulty.•Results suggest effective curricular designs and areas warranting redesign.
ISSN:0360-1315
1873-782X
DOI:10.1016/j.compedu.2013.10.020