Early Childhood Computational Thinking through Tangible Floor-Robot Programming in an eTwinning Community of Practice.
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| Title: | Early Childhood Computational Thinking through Tangible Floor-Robot Programming in an eTwinning Community of Practice. |
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| Authors: | Foti, Paraskevi1 vivifoti@gmail.com, Bratitsis, Tharrenos1 |
| Source: | Electronic Journal of e-Learning. 2026, Vol. 24 Issue 3, p92-105. 14p. |
| Subject Terms: | *Computational thinking, *STEAM education, *Professional employee training, *Early childhood education, *Educational technology, *Gender differences in education, Communities of practice |
| Abstract: | This study explores how early-years teachers evaluate and implement Computational Thinking (CT) through tangible floor-robot activities within an eTwinning Community of Practice (CoP), with attention to gender-related participation patterns. Although CT is increasingly recognised as an essential dimension of Early Childhood Education (ECE - referring to ages 4-6 according to the Greek Education System), there is still limited empirical evidence on how teachers transform CT concepts into developmentally appropriate practice and how gender may shape children's engagement in such activities. Addressing these gaps, the study focuses on teachers' evaluations and classroom implementation of CT, their experiences with tangible programming tasks, and their perceptions of gender-related patterns in participation, support needs, and CT performance. The research was conducted over a 24-week asynchronous professional-learning programme hosted on Moodle and involved one national cohort of Greek early-years educators (N = 473). During the professionallearning programme, participants engaged in weekly STEAM-oriented CT activities and collaboratively designed classroom learning scenarios using floor robots (e.g., Bee-Bot). Survey instruments captured teachers' perceptions of CT, educational robotics, STEAM pedagogy, and gender-related classroom observations, while focus-group discussions provided complementary insights into classroom enactment. Following a DBR-informed exploratory mixed-methods approach, the research combined iterative engagement in the CoP with descriptive analysis of survey and focus-group data to identify patterns in teachers' experiences and reported classroom practices. Findings indicate consistently high levels of participation for both girls and boys, with only small gender differences. Boys appeared slightly more often in the highest engagement band but were also more likely to require ongoing support, whereas girls were more frequently described as working independently and showed a modest descriptive advantage in problem solving, sequencing, and simple algorithm design. In addition, the learning scenarios were rated as useful or very useful for cultivating CT and for fostering collaboration, communication, and problem solving in early-years classrooms. Qualitative findings identified three design features as particularly effective in supporting children's engagement: explicit sequencing supports, structured testing and debugging cycles, and the use of cooperative roles. Taken together, these findings underpin a set of practical learning-design principles for implementing CT through floor-robot activities in early childhood. More broadly, the research illustrates how an online CoP can support the adaptation of CT-focused designs into everyday classroom practice. It also contributes to e-learning research by illustrating how developmentally appropriate robotics activities within a Community of Practice may support equitable opportunities for young children to engage with foundational CT practices from the earliest years of schooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Electronic Journal of e-Learning is the property of Academic Conferences & Publishing International Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Education Research Complete |
| FullText | Links: – Type: pdflink Text: Availability: 0 |
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| Header | DbId: ehh DbLabel: Education Research Complete An: 196185313 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: Academic Journal PubTypeId: academicJournal PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Early Childhood Computational Thinking through Tangible Floor-Robot Programming in an eTwinning Community of Practice. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Foti%2C+Paraskevi%22">Foti, Paraskevi</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><i> vivifoti@gmail.com</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Bratitsis%2C+Tharrenos%22">Bratitsis, Tharrenos</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Electronic+Journal+of+e-Learning%22">Electronic Journal of e-Learning</searchLink>. 2026, Vol. 24 Issue 3, p92-105. 14p. – Name: Subject Label: Subject Terms Group: Su Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Computational+thinking%22">Computational thinking</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22STEAM+education%22">STEAM education</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Professional+employee+training%22">Professional employee training</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Early+childhood+education%22">Early childhood education</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Educational+technology%22">Educational technology</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Gender+differences+in+education%22">Gender differences in education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Communities+of+practice%22">Communities of practice</searchLink> – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: This study explores how early-years teachers evaluate and implement Computational Thinking (CT) through tangible floor-robot activities within an eTwinning Community of Practice (CoP), with attention to gender-related participation patterns. Although CT is increasingly recognised as an essential dimension of Early Childhood Education (ECE - referring to ages 4-6 according to the Greek Education System), there is still limited empirical evidence on how teachers transform CT concepts into developmentally appropriate practice and how gender may shape children's engagement in such activities. Addressing these gaps, the study focuses on teachers' evaluations and classroom implementation of CT, their experiences with tangible programming tasks, and their perceptions of gender-related patterns in participation, support needs, and CT performance. The research was conducted over a 24-week asynchronous professional-learning programme hosted on Moodle and involved one national cohort of Greek early-years educators (N = 473). During the professionallearning programme, participants engaged in weekly STEAM-oriented CT activities and collaboratively designed classroom learning scenarios using floor robots (e.g., Bee-Bot). Survey instruments captured teachers' perceptions of CT, educational robotics, STEAM pedagogy, and gender-related classroom observations, while focus-group discussions provided complementary insights into classroom enactment. Following a DBR-informed exploratory mixed-methods approach, the research combined iterative engagement in the CoP with descriptive analysis of survey and focus-group data to identify patterns in teachers' experiences and reported classroom practices. Findings indicate consistently high levels of participation for both girls and boys, with only small gender differences. Boys appeared slightly more often in the highest engagement band but were also more likely to require ongoing support, whereas girls were more frequently described as working independently and showed a modest descriptive advantage in problem solving, sequencing, and simple algorithm design. In addition, the learning scenarios were rated as useful or very useful for cultivating CT and for fostering collaboration, communication, and problem solving in early-years classrooms. Qualitative findings identified three design features as particularly effective in supporting children's engagement: explicit sequencing supports, structured testing and debugging cycles, and the use of cooperative roles. Taken together, these findings underpin a set of practical learning-design principles for implementing CT through floor-robot activities in early childhood. More broadly, the research illustrates how an online CoP can support the adaptation of CT-focused designs into everyday classroom practice. It also contributes to e-learning research by illustrating how developmentally appropriate robotics activities within a Community of Practice may support equitable opportunities for young children to engage with foundational CT practices from the earliest years of schooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] – Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright Label: Group: Ab Data: <i>Copyright of Electronic Journal of e-Learning is the property of Academic Conferences & Publishing International Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) |
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| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Identifiers: – Type: doi Value: 10.34190/ejel.24.3.4601 Languages: – Code: eng Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 14 StartPage: 92 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Computational thinking Type: general – SubjectFull: STEAM education Type: general – SubjectFull: Professional employee training Type: general – SubjectFull: Early childhood education Type: general – SubjectFull: Educational technology Type: general – SubjectFull: Gender differences in education Type: general – SubjectFull: Communities of practice Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Early Childhood Computational Thinking through Tangible Floor-Robot Programming in an eTwinning Community of Practice. Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Foti, Paraskevi – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Bratitsis, Tharrenos IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 07 Text: 2026 Type: published Y: 2026 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 14794403 Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 24 – Type: issue Value: 3 Titles: – TitleFull: Electronic Journal of e-Learning Type: main |
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