Embodied Learning of Graphs: A Psychodramatic Approach in Primary School
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| Title: | Embodied Learning of Graphs: A Psychodramatic Approach in Primary School |
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| Language: | English |
| Authors: | João Marcelo Borovina Josko (ORCID |
| Source: | Informatics in Education. 2026 25(1):1-35. |
| Availability: | Vilnius University Institute of Mathematics and Informatics, Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. Akademjos str. 4, Vilnius LT 08663 Lithuania. Tel: +37-5-21-09300; Fax: +37-5-27-29209; e-mail: info@mii.vu.lt; Web site: https://infedu.vu.lt/journal/INFEDU |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 35 |
| Publication Date: | 2026 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Education Level: | Elementary Education Grade 5 Intermediate Grades Middle Schools |
| Descriptors: | Elementary Education, Grade 5, Foreign Countries, Graphs, Intervention, Teaching Methods, Elementary School Mathematics, Cooperative Learning, Role Playing, Drama, Elementary School Students, Reflection |
| Geographic Terms: | Brazil |
| ISSN: | 1648-5831 2335-8971 |
| Abstract: | While graph theory plays a foundational role in informatics and computational thinking (CT), its instruction in elementary education remains underexplored, particularly through embodied or arts-based methods. This study examines a low-tech, psychodrama-based pedagogical intervention designed to introduce graph theory as a data structure to fifth-grade students in a Brazilian public school. Students engaged in dramatizing connections and structural changes within friendship networks, enabling experiential learning of concepts such as adjacency, traversal, and modification of graph-like structures. Data were collected through teacher interviews, classroom observations, and post-intervention assessments. Findings indicate strong student engagement, symbolic appropriation of key graph concepts, and the development of abstraction and reflection skills central to computational thinking. These results suggest that educational psychodrama offers a culturally responsive, embodied strategy for introducing core CT concepts in early education, expanding the repertoire of practices in computing education. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2026 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1506549 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | While graph theory plays a foundational role in informatics and computational thinking (CT), its instruction in elementary education remains underexplored, particularly through embodied or arts-based methods. This study examines a low-tech, psychodrama-based pedagogical intervention designed to introduce graph theory as a data structure to fifth-grade students in a Brazilian public school. Students engaged in dramatizing connections and structural changes within friendship networks, enabling experiential learning of concepts such as adjacency, traversal, and modification of graph-like structures. Data were collected through teacher interviews, classroom observations, and post-intervention assessments. Findings indicate strong student engagement, symbolic appropriation of key graph concepts, and the development of abstraction and reflection skills central to computational thinking. These results suggest that educational psychodrama offers a culturally responsive, embodied strategy for introducing core CT concepts in early education, expanding the repertoire of practices in computing education. |
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| ISSN: | 1648-5831 2335-8971 |
