Robotics and computational thinking for primary school

This qualitative study examined how six Australian primary school teachers (Years 1-6), from four schools, introduced robotics in their classrooms and how this helped develop their students’ coding and computational thinking skills. Data were collected from surveys, on-going reflective journals, and semi-structured interviews. The findings indicate that using the LEGO® WeDo 2.0 robot kits and the accompanying guides, helped build teachers’ confidence to implement robotics-based coding activities in their classrooms. The teachers reported that the robotics offered opportunities to introduce young students to coding and computational thinking. Students’ involvement in the FIRST® LEGO League Junior robotics program also helped develop their problem-solving and teamwork skills. The teachers in this project developed a greater awareness of computational thinking and an increased confidence in their ability to teach relevant robotics-based coding activities. The study identified that further research needs to be done in this area and teacher professional development should focus explicitly on how to teach developmentally appropriate robotics activities that further promote computational thinking concepts, practices, and perspectives.