Proceedings of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education · Volume 1
Laura Heibeyn, Carina Büscher
University of Cologne
⬇ Download PDFAs a core competency of the 21st century, promoting computational thinking (CT) is necessary, and should begin at a young age. However, since this is an abstract concept, it is often difficult for children to grasp. Embodiment can help children acquire CT skills, especially in the early stages. As part of a qualitative study, 24 elementary school students were asked to complete a task involving decoding an arrow card algorithm for the Blue-Bot learning robot. This paper presents a particularly interesting case that covers many different approaches. It found that embodiment seems to support the CT skill of algorithmicising. In particular, visualising the position and orientation of the robot after each arrow card in the grid with the index finger appears to be promising.
computational thinkingeducational robotsembodied learning