Educational Robotics and Tangible Devices for Promoting Computational Thinking

Abstract

Recently, efforts have been made to add programming activities to the curriculum that promote computational thinking and foster 21st-century digital skills. One of the programming modalities is the use of Tangible Programming Languages (TPL), used in activities with 4+ year old children. In this review, we analyze solutions proposed for TPL in different contexts crossing them with non-TPL solutions, like Graphical Programming Languages (GPL). We start to characterize features of language interaction, their use, and what learning activities are associated with them. Then, in a diagram, we show a relation between the complexity of the languages with factors such as target age and output device types. We provide an analysis considering the type of input (e.g., TPL versus GPL) and output devices (e.g., physical robot versus graphical simulation) and evaluate their contribution to further insights about the general trends with respect to educational robotic systems. Finally, we discuss the opportunities to extend and improve TPLs based on the different solutions identified.

Keywords: computational thinking; educational robotics; human computer interaction; language complexity; tangible programming languages.

FIGURE 1

Classification of the tangible solutions based on input versus output devices, the complexity of programming language used and the year of their release. Bellow the diagram, pictures from 0 to 3 depict TPL examples, organized in the different space dimensions. From left to right, the dinosaur Pleo (0) interacts with touch, the Kibo (1) reads a sequence of commands, the Tern (2) represents the code in a space configuration and, finally, MOSS (3) uses a 3D space language in a mix activity of programming and robot building.