Teaching a Core CS Concept through Robotics

We implemented single-session workshops using the Thymio- II—a small, self-contained robot designed for young stu- dents, and VPL—a graphical software development envi- ronment based upon event handling. Our goal was to in- vestigate if the students could learn this core computer sci- ence concept while enjoying themselves in the robotics con- text. A visual questionnaire was developed based upon the combined Bloom and SOLO taxonomies, although it proved difficult to construct a questionnaire appropriate for young students. We found that—despite the short duration of the workshop—all but the youngest students achieved the cog- nitive level of Unistructural Understanding, while some stu- dents achieved higher levels of Unistructural Applying and Multistructural Understanding and Applying.