From Embodied Doing to Computational Thinking in Kindergarten: A Punctuated Motor Control Model

We propose a motor control-based characterization of how computational thinking (CT) can emerge from embodied performance. The account is based on children's activity during a tangible coding task, and a mechanism proposed by cognitive and motor neuroscience studies. For the task, the child used navigational symbols (forward, backward, rotate right, rotate left) to program the movements of a tangible robot on a 2-D grid. We propose that the development of CT through this task can be understood in terms of “tool incorporation into the body schema.” To illustrate the proposed mechanism, we use video data from one of three teaching sessions, where a group of four kindergartners learned to code using Cubetto (a tactile screen-free grid-based robotic toy). We argue that learning the task (i.e. being able to control Cubetto to perform goal-oriented movements) is challenging because the CT task requires learners to bridge three distinct discontinuities (spatial, temporal, and representational), to achieve control over the robot. We hypothesize that learners and facilitators are likely to engage in moves (both epistemic and pedagogical) that help bridge these gaps, and thus support the incorporation of the robot and its controller into the body schema. We characterize two such moves and explicate how they might support the incorporation process. The study is part of a larger program of design-based research aimed at helping young children develop CT.