Humanoid robots: Programing at school

This paper reports on a study that is part of a three-year research project investigating how NAO humanoid robots were used in early childhood, primary, and secondary school settings and what teachers and students learnt by working with these robots. This qualitative study focuses on three case studies, from the three schools settings, to explore how the NAO humanoid robots were incorporated in the classroom, how teachers and students engaged with the robot, and what computational thinking skills students working with the humanoid robot developed. A multiple case study design allowed for an exploration of the use of the humanoid robot in the different school settings as well as a comparison between settings. Multiple forms of data were collected from ten teachers, across the three schools, in order to gain their views and to enable the teachers to discuss their experiences and perceptions on using the humanoid robot in their classrooms. The findings indicate that humanoid robots can be useful across a range of schools settings, have a positive impact on students engagement, and can not only help develop students’ computational thinking, but can also help develop other 21st century skills.