Teaching robotics concepts to elementary school children

Abstract

We taught computer science (cs) with robotics to four second-grade classes of 30 students each (ages 7–8). The lessons were taught using the Thymio robot and the vpl environment. Our goal was to investigate the extent to which students actually learn cs concepts. A taxonomy was developed to characterize the learning levels. The students answered two questionnaires based on the taxonomy and field observations were recorded. We found that students at such an early age were very engaged during the robotics activities and were highly motivated to succeed. Furthermore, these young students do learn cs concepts but find it difficult to create and run their own programs.