A Framework for teaching programming in High School through Educational Robotics

This Research-to-Practice Full Paper aims to introduce a methodological framework to foster Computational Thinking (CT) skills by teaching programming with Educational Robotics (ER) in High School. Problem-solving is an essential skill for human development, so it is necessary to introduce actions to improve this skill in High School. It is possible to stimulate problem- solving through computer programming teaching with ER. However, as far as we know, there are no methodologies for teaching programming with ER focusing on CT development in High School that went through scientific validation of the proposal. This study is an Educational Design Research that aims to introduce a methodological framework for teaching programming in High School with ER (named CTProgER) and validate two instances of the framework. It was considered consolidated teaching methodologies with ER, combined with the Anthropological Theory of Didactics and evidence from our ER studies. As a result, we present the CTProgER Framework guideline, two instances of the CTProgER Framework, and these instances’ validation through the Delphi method.