More Like this

1. 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. 

   more » « less
2. Kindergarten students’ mathematics knowledge at work: the mathematics for programming robot toys.

   https://doi.org/10.1080/10986065.2021.1982666  

   Shumway, J. F.; Welch, L. E.; Kozlowski, J. S.; Clarke-Midura, J.; & Lee, V. R. (September 2021, Mathematical thinking learning)

   The purpose of this study was to explore how kindergarten students (aged 5–6 years) engaged with mathematics as they learned programming with robot coding toys. We video-recorded 16 teaching sessions of kindergarten students’ (N = 36) mathematical and programming activities. Students worked in small groups (4–5 students) with robot coding toys on the floor in their classrooms, solving tasks that involved programming these toys to move to various locations on a grid. Drawing on a semiotic mediation perspective, we analyzed video data to identify the mathematics concepts and skills students demonstrated and the overlapping mathematics-programming knowledge exhibited by the students during these programming tasks. We found that kindergarten children used spatial, measurement, and number knowledge, and the design of the tasks, affordances of the robots, and types of programming knowledge influenced how the students engaged with mathematics. The paper concludes with a discussion about the intersections of mathematics and programming knowledge in early childhood, and how programming robot toys elicited opportunities for students to engage with mathematics in dynamic and interconnected ways, thus creating an entry point to reassert mathematics beyond the traditional school content and curriculum. 

   more » « less
3. 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. 

   more » « less
4. 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. 

   more » « less
5. Objects to debug with: How young children resolve errors with tangible coding toys

   Silvis, D.; Clarke-Midura, J.; Shumway, J.; & Lee, V. R. (January 2021, Proceedings of the International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS) Annual Meeting)

   Debugging is an important skill all programmers must learn, including preliterate children who are learning to code in early childhood settings. Despite the fact that early learning environments increasingly incorporate coding curricula, we know little about debugging knowledge in early childhood. One reason is that the tangible programming environments designed for young children entail a layer of material complexity that we have yet to account for in terms of learning to debug. In our study of young children learning to program, we found that in the midst of solving programming tasks and learning to debug, tangible toys presented bugs of their own. This paper analyzes video of Kindergarteners learning to debug errors in the program and errors in the physical materials. We argue that concurrent physical and programming bugs present opportunities for young children to learn about the broader computational system in which they are learning to code. 

   more » « less