Exploring child-robot interaction ecology in the development of computational thinking

Abstract

In recent decades, technological developments related to computing, informatics, and digitization have generated radical changes in our lives. This new reality brings with it the need for children and young people to develop new basic skills linked to what has been called computational thinking. Computational thinking taught from an early age may allow individuals and society to understand and use new conceptual structures and models that represent complex phenomena and processes in the world around us. However, stimulating the development of computational thinking at an early age (preschool) continues to be an academic challenge whose approach requires research, interdisciplinary work, and innovation. My doctoral thesis aims to contribute to the design, development and evaluation of child-robot interaction (including programming interface, interaction context and activities), aimed at promoting the development of computational thinking in preschool children.