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Education Sciences
Special Issues
New Challenges on Computational Thinking, Programming and Robotics in Education
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New Challenges on Computational Thinking, Programming and Robotics in Education

A special issue of Education Sciences (ISSN 2227-7102). This special issue belongs to the section "Technology Enhanced Education".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2021) | Viewed by 18191

Special Issue Editors

Dr. João Piedade

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Education, University of Lisbon, 1648-013 Lisboa, Portugal
Interests: technology-enhanced learning; computer science initial teacher training; computer science k-12 education; educational robotics; tangible objects programming; computational thinking; computer science didactics; active learning approaches
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Nuno Dorotea

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Education, University of Lisbon, 1648-013 Lisboa, Portugal
Interests: artificial intelligence in education; digital formative assessment; ICT in educational context; educational programming and robotics; computer science education
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims to discuss and reflect on the new challenges in computational thinking, programming, robotics, and other emergent technologies in education.

Computational Thinking, Programming, and Robotics, as well as other emergent technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, and Augmented Reality, are, actually, thematic trends in both education and educational research. Many studies and relevant technical reports have indicated the need to integrate these thematics in the school curriculum. This increase is being driven by many factors, including economic, technological, and social factors. It is urgent to promote the student's technological skills in order to allow them to build the future workforce, but also to understand the role of technologies in society, and the school is the right place for that purpose. Accordingly, international organizations have organized curricular frameworks to integrate computational thinking, programming, and robotics in K-12 settings. Many countries adopted these frameworks and ideas and reorganized the school curriculum, in order to integrate these issues in new subjects in the curriculum of STEM subjects.

Inspired by Papert constructionism ideas of use computers and robotics as “objects-to-think with,” we believe that during the learning process of constructing and programming a robot to solve a problem, students apply computational thinking skills like abstraction, decomposition, logical thinking, pattern recognition, design algorithms, and debugging.

The Special Issue features research papers, reviews of research studies, technical reports, and conceptual pieces. The scope of the paper submissions is very broad, in order to cover many aspects of pedagogical approaches for teaching and learning CT, programming, and robotics with students of different ages and in different settings.

Prof. Dr. João Piedade
Prof. Dr. Nuno Dorotea
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Education Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Computational Thinking Aspects
  • Educational Robotics
  • Programming
  • Artificial Intelligence in Education
  • Augmented Reality
  • Coding and Programming Tools
  • Instructional Materials and Tasks
  • Teaching-Learning Approaches
  • Emergent Technologies in Education
  • Technology Enhanced Learning

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 650 KiB  
Article
Coding as Literacy in Preschool: A Case Study
by Ana Francisca Monteiro, Maribel Miranda-Pinto and António José Osório
Educ. Sci. 2021, 11(5), 198; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11050198 - 23 Apr 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3693
Abstract
Coding is increasingly recognized as a new literacy that should be encouraged at a young age. This understanding has recontextualized computer science as a compulsory school subject and has informed several developmentally appropriate approaches to computation, including for preschool children. This study focuses [...] Read more.
Coding is increasingly recognized as a new literacy that should be encouraged at a young age. This understanding has recontextualized computer science as a compulsory school subject and has informed several developmentally appropriate approaches to computation, including for preschool children. This study focuses on the introduction of three approaches to computation in preschool (3–6 years), specifically computational thinking, programming, and robotics, from a cross-curricular perspective. This paper presents preliminary findings from one of the case studies currently being developed as part of project KML II—Laboratory of Technologies and Learning of Programming and Robotics for Preschool and Elementary School. The purpose of the KML II project is to characterize how approaches to computation can be integrated into preschool and elementary education, across different knowledge domains. The conclusions point to “expression and communication” as an initial framework for computational approaches in preschool, but also to multidisciplinary and more creative methodological activities that offer greater scope for the development of digital and computational competences, as well as for personal and social development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Challenges on Computational Thinking, Programming and Robotics in Education)
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25 pages, 2108 KiB  
Article
Assessing and Benchmarking Learning Outcomes of Robotics-Enabled STEM Education
by S. M. Mizanoor Rahman
Educ. Sci. 2021, 11(2), 84; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11020084 - 21 Feb 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3496
Abstract
Experienced middle school mathematics and science teachers were recruited for a pilot study. The teachers separately responded to a survey related to determining expected learning outcomes based on their traditional teaching, classroom experiences and observations, and self-brainstorming. The teachers then received training on [...] Read more.
Experienced middle school mathematics and science teachers were recruited for a pilot study. The teachers separately responded to a survey related to determining expected learning outcomes based on their traditional teaching, classroom experiences and observations, and self-brainstorming. The teachers then received training on how to design, develop, and implement robotics-enabled lessons under a design-based research approach for experiential learning, and taught robotics-enabled lessons to a selected student population in classroom settings. The teachers then responded to the survey for the robotics-enabled teaching. For each case (traditional and robotics-enabled), the survey responses were analyzed, and a set of expected learning outcomes of math and science lessons was derived separately. The thematic analysis results showed that the expected learning outcomes for the robotics-enabled lessons were not only related to the educational gains (content knowledge) observed in traditional teaching, but also to the improvements in the behavioral, social, scientific, cognitive, and intellectual aptitudes of the students. Then, a set of metrics and methods were proposed for assessing the learning outcomes separately. To validate the assessment metrics and methods, teachers from different schools taught two selected robotics-enabled lessons (one math, one science) to same grade students, and separately assessed the learning outcomes of each student using the proposed metrics and methods. The learning outcomes were then compared and benchmarked between schools and subjects. The results of a user study with the teachers showed user acceptance, effectiveness, and suitability of the assessment metrics and methods. The proposed scheme of assessing learning outcomes can be used to assess and justify the benefits and advantages of robotics-enabled STEM education, benchmark the outcomes, help improve teaching preparations, motivate decision-makers to confer on robotics-enabled STEM education and curricula development, and promote robotics-enabled STEM education. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Challenges on Computational Thinking, Programming and Robotics in Education)
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15 pages, 2183 KiB  
Article
Elementary Students’ First Approach to Computational Thinking and Programming
by Susanne Kjällander, Linda Mannila, Anna Åkerfeldt and Fredrik Heintz
Educ. Sci. 2021, 11(2), 80; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11020080 - 19 Feb 2021
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 5390
Abstract
Digital competence and programming are actively highlighted areas in education worldwide. They are becoming part of curricula all over the world, including the Swedish elementary school curriculum, Children are expected to develop computational thinking through programming activities, mainly in mathematics—which are supposed to [...] Read more.
Digital competence and programming are actively highlighted areas in education worldwide. They are becoming part of curricula all over the world, including the Swedish elementary school curriculum, Children are expected to develop computational thinking through programming activities, mainly in mathematics—which are supposed to be based on both proven experience and scientific grounds. Both are lacking in the lower grades of elementary school. This article gives unique insight into pupils’ learning during the first programming lessons based on a group of Swedish pupils’ experiences when entering school. The goal of the article is to inform education policy and practice. The large interdisciplinary, longitudinal research project studies approximately 1500 students aged 6–16 and their teachers over three years, using video documentation, questionnaires, and focus group interviews. This article reports on empirical data collected during the first year in one class with 30 pupils aged 6–7 years. The social semiotic, multimodal theoretical framework “Design for Learning” is used to investigate potential signs of learning in pupils’ multimodal representations when they, for example, use block programming in the primary and secondary transformation unit. We show that young pupils have positive attitudes to programming and high self-efficacy, and that pupils’ signs of learning in programming are multimodal and often visible in social interactions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Challenges on Computational Thinking, Programming and Robotics in Education)
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15 pages, 1988 KiB  
Article
On Teaching Programming Fundamentals and Computational Thinking with Educational Robotics: A Didactic Experience with Pre-Service Teachers
by João Piedade, Nuno Dorotea, Ana Pedro and João Filipe Matos
Educ. Sci. 2020, 10(9), 214; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10090214 - 20 Aug 2020
Cited by 36 | Viewed by 4669
Abstract
This study aims to analyze how pre-service informatics teachers design learning scenarios with robotics to teach programming fundamentals and to promote computational thinking skills. A descriptive and exploratory case study design was implemented with 26 pre-service informatics teachers. Data were collected from the [...] Read more.
This study aims to analyze how pre-service informatics teachers design learning scenarios with robotics to teach programming fundamentals and to promote computational thinking skills. A descriptive and exploratory case study design was implemented with 26 pre-service informatics teachers. Data were collected from the participants using qualitative and quantitative instruments. The main results pointed out the affordances and possibilities of the use of learning scenarios with robotics to teach programming fundamentals and to promote computational thinking skills as well as a strong path to promote the application of contents of the other Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) areas. Another significant finding was the impact of the didactic experience on the level of interest and self-confidence of the pre-service teachers in using robotics for teaching purposes. The results showed the importance of these didactics experiences to the pre-service teachers preparation and to apply the pedagogic approaches they have learned in theory in practical activities and to transfer this knowledge to new pedagogical situations and problems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Challenges on Computational Thinking, Programming and Robotics in Education)
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