Cognitive development and the programming activity with children

Abstract

The present study is linked to a research that aims to investigate the process of building the notion of algorithm in the programming activity performed by children. We present here the analysis of nine experiments for the investigation of cognitive processes involved in the activity of moving a concrete robot [...]. In a first stage, cognitive tests were carried out, based on the Piagetian clinical method to verify the stage of intellectual development of each subject and a second stage where the subjects solved problems to make a tangible object move. The experiment was recorded on video and analyzed with the aid of qualitative analysis software MAXQDA2020®. As preliminary conclusions we can indicate relationships between the stages of child cognitive development and the use of different problem solving strategies involving the construction of algorithms for programming a robot.

Keywords: Cognitive Development; Programming Activity; Genetic Epistemology; Educational Robotics.