Embodiment of Computational Thinking During Collaborative Robotics Activity

Abstract

This case study explored how young children's thinking was embodied during collaborative robotics activity. Two 5th grade learners were recorded as they worked together to program and navigate a robot across a 3'x3' grid of obstacles. The video was then analyzed using a grounded theory approach (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) to determine how cognition manifested in an embodied manner (e.g., gesturing, use of conceptual metaphor) through the tools and affordances employed by the learners. Four primary tools were used by learners in solving their robotics task: (1) basic robot moves, (2) gestures, (3) the map and the computer, and (4), the grid and the robot. These tools provided symbolic access to direct experiences, supporting an emergent and reactive process in which perception and action were intimately linked. Implications for computer science and improving the design of computer-supported collaborative learning are discussed.