Robotics is needed as education keeps up with challenges students are facing in a technological environment. A long-term research project focuses on developing a feasible robotics-based learning environment that enables primary school teachers to introduce computer science education. This paper shows educational robotics combining storytelling to promote computational thinking through the method of Tell, Draw, and Code. The study was conducted via pre–post test, using the Beginners Computational Thinking test (BCTt), with third and fourth graders (N = 40) to determine if the integration of robotics-based storytelling activities enhances computational thinking skills. Results show that an increase in computational thinking is evident after the intervention is implemented. The approach of combining stories, texts, and literature with educational robotics seems to be a promising concept to equip students with the required skills.

Technology is rapidly changing the world around us and thus, there is a need to adjust education by teaching children skills that are required in the fast-paced digital life. One problem-solving skillset, which has gained considerable attention in the last couple of years, is computational thinking (CT). Up to now, many countries have already implemented CT as an integral part of their education curricula, however, there is still often the misconception that teaching CT requires high technical effort and profound knowledge of computer science. Whereas CT is useful in any subject, it is not necessarily linked to technology and helps children to tackle problems by applying skills that are used in computer science. One effective hands-on approach to foster CT in every subject is modeling. A model is a simplified and reduced version of the real world and modeling is the process of creating it. In this paper, the authors focus on fostering CT skills with models from the field of computer science (CS) in foreign language teaching. The authors present several CS models, that have proven to be useful in language teaching, demonstrate how this approach can foster CT skills and give an insight into their research.

In contrast to the field of computer-supported or computer-assisted language learning (CALL), which has been investigated intensively for the last decades since the beginning of e-learning and technology-enhanced learning, computational thinking and computer science concepts are not quite common in the context of language lessons. Computational thinking is a problem solving process that, at first sight, has not much to do with language learning. However, as demanded by Jeannette Wing in 2006, it should be taught to everyone like reading, writing and mathematics. By introducing computational thinking in language lessons e.g. through modeling we could "kill two birds with one stone": On the one hand, we can teach computational thinking and basics of computer science at all school levels even if there is no related subject, e.g. in primary schools. On the other hand, computational thinking tools like modeling can support language learning in different ways and help to train text comprehension, to acquire and elaborate vocabulary or to visualize grammar rules etc. This paper describes some creative possibilities of introducing computational thinking through modeling in language lessons in primary and secondary education. Besides best practices, it further presents some experiences and results gained from teacher observation, interviews and informal feedback from students and teachers.

This Research to Practice Full Paper presents the development of a robotics-based learning environment using an educational design research approach. Contemporary teaching should prepare learners for everyday and working life, suggesting that this can only be achieved by implementing Digital Education from primary education onwards. Since computer science education is planned to be anchored in the Austrian primary school curriculum as an interdisciplinary competence development, research into teaching methods and content suitable for this area is becoming increasingly necessary. In this context, the transfer of innovations and didactic approaches into teaching is one of the biggest challenges. Introducing coding and robotics would be a possible strategy. Educational robotics provide access to real-world scenarios and offer age-appropriate possibilities to explore digital aspects of living and working environments. Combined with narrative methods, such as digital storytelling, problem-solving skills could be developed. Since the implementation of computer science in primary education requires practical and theoretical knowledge, an educational design approach is used that takes this aspect into account and allows close interaction between researchers and practitioners. This paper focuses on investigating a feasible and effective robotics-based learning environment for developing and supporting problem-solving skills at primary school using the learning and teaching method digital storytelling. Hence, the development of the learning environment and the didactic approach gained from qualitative results of interviews and observations from the first cycle of the research project are presented, providing plausible arguments for further implementing this robotics-based learning environment.