Robotics as a Tool to Enhance Technological Thinking in Early Childhood

Professional Development of Code and Robotics Teachers Through Small Private Online Course (SPOC): Teacher Centrality and Pedagogical Strategies for Developing Computational Thinking of Students

“…The first research questions explored pedagogical strategies prevalent in ECR teaching. ECR is a new curriculum aiming to develop computational thinking and promote creativity, collaboration, problem-solving, and self-expression as well as student motivation and self-confidence (Blau & Benolol, 2016; H. Chen et al., 2020; García-Peñalvo et al., 2016; Scherer et al., 2018; Zviel-Girshin, 2020). Seven pedagogical strategies in ECR teaching were found in both participant reflections and interviews: constructing learning experiences, tinkering & debugging, collaborative learning, gamification, experiential learning, examples relevant to students, and teacher's explicit instructions.…”

“…Professionals in the knowledge society need digital skills suitable for coping with constantly evolving information and communication technologies (ICT), digital tools, and applications (Zviel-Girshin et al., 2020). Nowadays programming has been accepted as a “new literacy” for active online participation (García-Peñalvo et al., 2016) and one of the important competencies for success in digital environments (Baek et al., 2019).…”

“…Nowadays programming has been accepted as a “new literacy” for active online participation (García-Peñalvo et al., 2016) and one of the important competencies for success in digital environments (Baek et al., 2019). Educational Coding and Robotics (ECR) has been argued to foster not only STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), but also to promote general skills, such as creativity, collaboration, problem-solving, and self-expression, and to improve student characteristics, such as motivation and self-confidence (Blau & Benolol, 2016; H. Chen et al., 2020; Scherer et al., 2018; Zviel-Girshin, 2020).…”

“…A survey of ICT teachers showed that those teachers who were confident in their ability to teach coding were combining strategies around code exercises, using discussion, collaboration and peer learning, and CT strategies (Sentance & Csizmadia, 2015). It is recommended that educators try different strategies to match ECR student needs (Zviel-Girshin et al., 2020). Modification of these strategies needs to be conducted based on the assessment of students' CT skills (Denning, 2017; Tozadore & Romero, 2020).…”

“…ECR supports collaboration and teamwork, creativity and imagination, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and enhances children’s self-confidence in their abilities (H. Chen et al., 2020; Zviel-Girshin et al., 2020). In order to enable students to develop these skills, teachers cannot just ask students to copy their code, which limits students' thinking and learning processes (Denning, 2017).…”