Systematic Review of Research Trends in Robotics Education for Young Children

Sung Eun Jung and Eun-sok Won
Additional contact information
Sung Eun Jung: Department of Educational Theory and Practice, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Eun-sok Won: Department of Liberal Arts Education, Mokwon University, Daejeon 35349, Korea

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 4, 1-24

Abstract: This study conducted a systematic and thematic review on existing literature in robotics education using robotics kits (not social robots) for young children (Pre-K and kindergarten through 5th grade). This study investigated: (1) the definition of robotics education; (2) thematic patterns of key findings; and (3) theoretical and methodological traits. The results of the review present a limitation of previous research in that it has focused on robotics education only as an instrumental means to support other subjects or STEM education. This study identifies that the findings of the existing research are weighted toward outcome-focused research. Lastly, this study addresses the fact that most of the existing studies used constructivist and constructionist frameworks not only to design and implement robotics curricula but also to analyze young children’s engagement in robotics education. Relying on the findings of the review, this study suggests clarifying and specifying robotics-intensified knowledge, skills, and attitudes in defining robotics education in connection to computer science education. In addition, this study concludes that research agendas need to be diversified and the diversity of research participants needs to be broadened. To do this, this study suggests employing social and cultural theoretical frameworks and critical analytical lenses by considering children’s historical, cultural, social, and institutional contexts in understanding young children’s engagement in robotics education.

Keywords: educational robotics; robotics for early childhood education; educational technology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/4/905/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/4/905/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:4:p:905-:d:137329

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().