Evaluation of Computational Thinking using four educational robots with primary school students in Peru

Abstract

The Development of Computational Thinking skills in elementary school students can be done through different activities, with or without the use of computers or technological devices. In this sense, the use of programmable robots brings many of the advantages of educational robotics for teaching fundamental aspects of Computing. This paper describes an educational intervention that evaluates the use of four educational robot models to improve Computational Thinking with primary school students in the Huancavelica region in Peru, South America. This Peruvian region is known for its low human development rates, where the population still faces some important barriers regarding access to education and technology. The study was conducted with 6 to 13 years-old children for four weeks. Computational Thinking was evaluated using computational concepts like sequences, cycles, events, parallelism, conditionals, operators, and data manipulation. The evaluation results showed that children preferred robots that have more interaction, connectivity, and programming features, and they could contribute significantly to the development of Computational Thinking skills.

Use of Arduino in Primary Education: A Systematic Review

“…From this perspective, the integration of computer science into schools has two main objectives: to offer all students the possibility of accessing computer science and to improve the learning of subjects known as STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) [12] by making the contents more authentic and relevant [13] and helping students with learning to break down a task into simpler ones, formulating and testing hypotheses, exploring and investigating, relating knowledge and coming up with original ideas or solutions. Thus, at a global level, different educational administrations have echoed this need in an increasingly digital world and are integrating computational thinking in their classrooms [14][15][16] as another competence that students must acquire from early childhood and primary education [17][18][19][20][21][22][23] through to secondary education [24][25][26][27].…”

Metodologias de ensino no aprendizado de programação para crianças: um estudo sobre práticas pedagógicas

“…Uma linguagem de programação é um conjunto de instruções que um computador pode entender e executar (CORMEN, 2009). Papert (1980) argumentou que aprender uma linguagem de programação pode fornecer às crianças uma ferramenta poderosa para expressar suas ideias e criar coisas novas. No entanto, é importante escolher a linguagem de programação certa para as crianças, que seja fácil de aprender, mas poderosa o suficiente para capacitá-las a criar projetos interessantes (RESNICK et al, 2009).…”

“…Neste contexto, a programação para crianças, também conhecida como aprendizagem de codificação, refere-se ao processo de ensinar às crianças as habilidades e conceitos básicos da programação de computadores. Embora tenha havido muitos avanços significativos na educação de programação para crianças nos últimos anos, a ideia de ensinar codificação para crianças remonta décadas (PAPERT, 1980).…”

Review on the teaching of programming and computational thinking in the world

“…They also investigated the effects of using cell phone software to control educational robots with third-grade elementary school students (Yi andTing, 2020, in Kong et al, 2020). In addition, Paucar-Curasma et al ( 2022) conducted a study with a group of students aged 6-13 years in Peru, which was developed during 4 weeks, and applied computational thinking assessments applying the concepts of sequences, cycles, parallelism, conditionals, operators, and data manipulation, which allowed an appropriation of computational thinking skills by the participants in an optimal way (Paucar-Curasma et al, 2022). Finally, researchers Souza et al (2019) analyzed the effect of computational thinking in mathematics through educational robotics.…”