Programmed control systems are ubiquitous in the present-day world. In current educational practice, however, these systems are hardly being addressed, and little is known about children's spontaneous understandings about such systems. Therefore, we explored pupils' understandings prior to instruction in three concrete settings: a car park, an…

While recent years have witnessed increasing attention to technology-enhanced language learning, investigation regarding how technologies facilitate digital storytelling outcomes among middle school students in English-as-a-foreign-language contexts remains insufficiently explored. Studies concerning the effects of different presentation modes…

This article explores how the adoption of educational robotics, cloud-based animation software, and simplified visual programming software can provide valuable opportunities for dialogic interaction and learning. The potentialities of this type of activity are often overlooked in dialogic investigations. Based on empirical illustration, we discuss…

Despite the widespread applications of robots in education, fewer attempts have been made to how robots help middle school students in English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) contexts to tell stories, let alone the probe into student emotions. This mixed-methods study, therefore, aimed to address these concerns by focusing on digital storytelling…

In the wake of all that educators are navigating these days, they've proven to be not only resilient, but also innovative. They continue intentionally finding new and exciting ways to create powerful learning opportunities for all students. Reinvent the Classroom, an initiative by Digital Promise, HP, Microsoft, and Intel, supports, celebrates,…

The paper presents an attempt made to use the Arduino platform and the Scratch for Arduino (S4A) environment for the implementation of an educational project for 6th grade primary school students in a classroom attended by refugee, immigrants, and indigenous students. The aim was to investigate the opportunity to use educational robotics as tools…

Problem-solving and critical thinking are considered important skills to be developed by students, and are supported by the development of Computational Thinking (CT) skills. This study investigated the collaborative development of CT skills in sixth grade students via a six week LEGO robotics program. This robotics program focused on the…

This paper explores Computational Thinking (CT) through the experiences and interactions of sixth-grade students as they were engaging in a science lesson utilizing robotics. This robotics unit institutes the shifting from traditional to engaging hands-on activities coupled with CT skills that are exciting, intriguing, and inviting to students.…

Because students have often been conditioned as passive learners and receivers of knowledge, it can be difficult for them to persevere in solving authentic problems. Nevertheless, teachers must persist in preparing students as problem solvers and critical thinkers. In an urban inner-city neighborhood school in the southeast, students embarked on a…

Increasing the quality and effectiveness of education and training, contributing to the social, political and economic structure of the countries is something that educators and educational policy makers are always working on. Increasing the quality of education and training nowadays can be achieved with the development of 21st century skills in…

This research study explored robotics as the catalyst for computational thinking (CT) by sixth-grade students as they are engaged in a science lesson. The interactions, understandings, and applications are discussed, along with the participants' connections and implementations of CT concepts (decomposition, abstraction, pattern recognition, and…

This paper describes a 54-hour summer institute for grades 6-12 mathematics and science teachers (N = 19) with a comprehensive approach to preparing teachers to use computational thinking (CT) in their classrooms, including training in Python computer programming with Lego® Mindstorms® robotics, mathematics content sessions, and opportunities to…

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts over 8 million job openings in IT and computing, including 1 million cybersecurity postings, over the current five-year period. This paper presents lessons learned in preparing middle-school students in rural Georgia for future careers in computer science/ IT by teaching computer programming in the free,…

Computing education in schools faces several problems, such as a lack of computing teachers and time in an already overloaded curriculum. A solution can be a multidisciplinary approach, integrating the teaching of computing within other subjects, creating the need to motivate teachers from other disciplines to teach computing in middle school.…

Educational robotics involves using robots as an educational tool to provide a long term, and progressive learning activity, to cater to different age group. The current concern is that, using robots in education should not be an instance of a one-off project for the sole purpose of participating in a competitive event. Instead, it should be a…