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1. ISLSBlending Everyday Movement and Representational Infrastructure: An Interaction Analysis of Kindergarteners Coding Robot Routes

   Silvis, D.; Lee, V.R.; Clarke-Midura, J.; Shumway, J; Kozlowski, J. (January 2020, Proceedings of the International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS) Annual Meeting)

   If we want to design for computer science learning in K12 education, then Kindergarten is the place to start. Despite differing formats, early childhood coding tools rely heavily on a similar representational infrastructure. Grids and arrows predominate, introducing a nested series of directional symbols and spatial skills children must learn in order to code. Thus, learning to think computationally is entangled with learning to think spatially and symbolically. This paper analyzes video of Kindergarten students learning to use robot coding toys and examines how they navigated programming’s representational infrastructure. We found that children drew on conventional notions of how objects move, creating a “conceptual blend” for programming robot routes (Fauconnier & Turner, 1998). We argue that coding in Kindergarten requires mapping a series of correspondences from the domain of everyday movements onto the resources available in the representational domain. 

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2. Teaching Coding in Kindergarten: Supporting Students’ Activity with Robot Coding Toys

   https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-21970-2_3  

   Shumway, J. F.; Clarke-Midura, J.; Lee, V. R.; Silvis, D.; Welch Bond, L. E.; & Kozlowski, J. S. (January 2023, Teaching Coding in K-12 Schools: Research and Application)

   Keane, T.; Fluck, A. (Ed.)

   In this chapter, we share observations from a multiyear design-based research project exploring how to teach developmentally appropriate coding concepts and skills in kindergarten. We focus on coding toys that fit within a genre we call “grid- agent” robot coding toys. These are robots that are specifically for early childhood, commercially available, screen-free, tangible, moveable and programmable. Grid- agent robot toys invite children to explore mathematics through precise movements across a grid space. 

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3. The technical matters: young children debugging (with) tangible coding toys

   https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-12-2021-0109  

   Silvis, Deborah; Lee, Victor R.; Clarke-Midura, Jody; Shumway, Jessica F. (July 2022, Information and Learning Sciences)

   Purpose Much remains unknown about how young children orient to computational objects and how we as learning scientists can orient to young children as computational thinkers. While some research exists on how children learn programming, very little has been written about how they learn the technical skills needed to operate technologies or to fix breakdowns that occur in the code or the machine. The purpose of this study is to explore how children perform technical knowledge in tangible programming environments. Design/methodology/approach The current study examines the organization of young children’s technical knowledge in the context of a design-based study of Kindergarteners learning to code using robot coding toys, where groups of children collaboratively debugged programs. The authors conducted iterative rounds of qualitative coding of video recordings in kindergarten classrooms and interaction analysis of children using coding robots. Findings The authors found that as children repaired bugs at the level of the program and at the level of the physical apparatus, they were performing essential technical knowledge; the authors focus on how demonstrating technical knowledge was organized pedagogically and collectively achieved. Originality/value Drawing broadly from studies of the social organization of technical work in professional settings, we argue that technical knowledge is easy to overlook but essential for learning to repair programs. The authors suggest how tangible programming environments represent pedagogically important contexts for dis-embedding young children’s essential technical knowledge from the more abstract knowledge of programming. 

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4. POSSIBILITIES AND PROMISES OF USING ARGUMENTATION IN THE TEACHING OF MATHEMATICS, SCIENCE, AND CODING

   Menke, J. (January 2021, Annual meeting program American Educational Research Association)

   In this presentation, the research team discussed teachers' facilitation of argumentation in teaching computer programming (or coding) and how it related to their epistemic beliefs about mathematics and science. The preliminary results showed that teachers engaged their students in both justificatory and inquiry arguments when teaching coding. This was not the case with respect to mathematics and science, in which teachers described engaging students either in justificatory or inquiry argumentation exclusively. The team proposes that these siloed uses of argumentation in mathematics and science relate to the teachers' epistemic beliefs about the disciplines, and their use of argumentation in coding builds on and goes beyond their experiences with argumentation in teaching mathematics and science. 

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5. Using coding toys to understand equality

   Welch, L. E.; Shumway, J. F.; Clarke-Midura, J.; & Lee, V. R. (October 2021, Australian primary mathematics classroom)

   The authors show how a toy robot was used with a number line in a Year 1 class to explore equality and missing addends. They conclude that coding toys can be used to integrate mathematics and programming in engaging and innovative ways, to support young children in their learning. 

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