Schools everywhere are using robotics education to engage kids in applied science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) activities, but teaching programming can be challenging due to lack of resources. This article reports on using Robot Virtual Worlds (RVW) and curriculum available on the Internet to teach robot programming. It also reports the results of a research study that compared the test scores of students learning to program LEGO and VEX robots using virtual robots versus physical robots. The study was conducted by Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Academy and the University of Pittsburgh's Learning Research and Development Center, and the results proved to be positive from both a teaching and learning perspective. This study builds on numerous studies involving teaching novice programming using robots (Roberts et al., 2011). (Contains 4 tables and 3 figures.)