Skip to main content
Disciplines
Automotive Business IT + Informatics Construction + Real Estate Electrical Engineering + Electronics Energy + Sustainability Insurance + Risk Finance + Banking Management + Leadership Marketing + Sales Mechanical Engineering + Materials
DE
EN
Books
Journals
Events
Topic Page
Marketing
Log in
Learn more about individual access
Request company access
13th International Engine Congress 2026 | 24 + 25 February 2026

Meeting Place for the Powertrain and Sustainable Fuels Community

Take part as a speaker in the 13th International Engine Congress 2026, the Meeting Place for the Powertrain, and Sustainable Fuels Community for the exchange of experience. Submit a subject proposal online about our main subject areas: Passenger car engine technology, Commercial vehicle engine technology and Sustainable Fuels & Energy!
EXTENDED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Published in:
Read chapter Read first chapter

2018 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

Teaching Robotics Concepts to Elementary School Children

Authors : Mor Friebroon Yesharim, Mordechai Ben-Ari

Published in: Robotics in Education

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Log in

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config
loading …

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.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 102.000 Bücher
  • über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Automobil + Motoren
  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
  • Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
  • Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 67.000 Bücher
  • über 390 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Automobil + Motoren
  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
  • Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
  • Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe




 

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 67.000 Bücher
  • über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Versicherung + Risiko




Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now
previous chapter Pythagorean Approximations for LEGO: Merging Educational Robot Construction with Programming and Data Analysis
next chapter The Effect of the Programming Interfaces of Robots in Teaching Computer Languages
Appendix
Available only for authorised users
Footnotes
1
The hardware and the software are open souce under the CC-BY-SA license. Software, documentation and tutorials can be found at https://​www.​thymio.​org/​.
 
2
The first questionnaire was not administered to class 2 because of logistic difficulties.
 
3
Note the potential confusion between the button direction and the sensor position.
 
Literature
1.
Bers, M.U., Flannery, L., Kazakoff, E.R., Sullivan, A.: Computational thinking and tinkering: exploration of an early childhood robotics curriculum. Comput. Educ. 72, 145–157 (2014)CrossRef
2.
du Boulay, B.: Some difficulties of learning to program. J. Educ. Comput. Res. 2(1), 57–73 (1986)CrossRef
3.
Bruce, K., Danyluk, A., Thomas, M.: Java: An Eventful Approach. Prentice Hall (2006)
4.
Clements, D.H., Sarama, J.: Research on logo: a decade of progress. Comput. Schools 4(1/2), 9–46 (1997)CrossRef
5.
Druin, A., Hendler, J. (eds.): Robots for Kids: Exploring New Technologies for Learning. Morgan Kaufmann (2000)
6.
Gick, M.L., Holyoak, K.J.: Analogical problem solving. Cogn. Psychol. 12(3), 306–355 (1980)CrossRef
7.
8.
King, K.P., Gura, M. (eds.): Classroom Robotics: Case Stories of 21st Century Instruction for Millennial Students. Information Age Publishing (2007)
9.
Magnenat, S., Riedo, F., Bonani, M., Mondada., F.: A programming workshop using the robot “Thymio II”: The effect on the understanding by children. In: IEEE Workshop on Advanced Robotics and its Social Impacts (ARSO) (2012)
10.
Magnenat, S., Shin, J., Riedo, F., Siegwart, R., Ben-Ari, M.: Teaching a core CS concept through robotics. In: Proceedings of the 2014 Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, pp. 315–320 (2014)
11.
Martin, F., Mikhak, B., Resnick, M., Silverman, B., Berg, R.: To Mindstorms and beyond: evolution of a construction kit for magical machines. In: Druin, A., Hendler, J. (eds.) Robots for Kids, pp. 9–33. Morgan Kaufmann (2000)
12.
Martinez, C., Gomez, M.J., Benotti, L.: A comparison of preschool and elementary school children learning computer science concepts through a multilanguage robot programming platform. In: Proceedings of the Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, pp. 159–164 (2015)
13.
Meerbaum-Salant, O., Armoni, M., Ben-Ari, M.: Learning computer science concepts with Scratch. Comput. Sci. Educ. 23(3), 239–264 (2013)CrossRef
14.
Parsons, D., Haden, P.: Parson’s programming puzzles: a fun and effective learning tool for first programming courses. In: Proceedings of the 8th Australasian Conference on Computing Education, pp. 157–163 (2006)
15.
Pea, R.D.: Language-independent conceptual “bugs" in novice programming. J. Educ. Comput. Res. 2(1), 25–36 (1986)CrossRef
16.
Sullivan, A., Bers, M.U.: Robotics in the early childhood classroom: Learning outcomes from an 8-week robotics curriculum in pre-kindergarten through second grade. Int. J. Technol. Des. Educ. 26(1), 3–20 (2016)CrossRef
17.
Sullivan, A., Elkin, M., Bers, M.U.: KIBO robot demo: Engaging young children in programming and engineering. In: Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children, pp. 418–421 (2015)
18.
Watson, C., Li, F.W.: Failure rates in introductory programming revisited. In: Proceedings of the Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, pp. 39–44 (2014)
Metadata
Title
Teaching Robotics Concepts to Elementary School Children
Authors
Mor Friebroon Yesharim
Mordechai Ben-Ari
Copyright Year
2018
Book
Robotics in Education

Print ISBN: 978-3-319-62874-5

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-62875-2

Copyright Year: 2018

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62875-2_7

Premium Partner

    Image Credits