Enhancing Computational Thinking Skills using Robots and Digital Storytelling

The need for digital education from an early age is undisputed today. In the years to come, computer science education is to be integrated more intensively into early education and thus find its way into primary school. Since it is planned to be anchored in the Austrian primary school curriculum, research into teaching methods and content suitable for this area is becoming increasingly necessary. For this reason, a research project with programmable robots was developed to support and promote the introduction to computer science education in primary schools. This study is part of a long-term educational design research project. To examine the implementation of computational thinking focusing on using programmable robots and digital storytelling a programming unit with the robot Ozobot for third and fourth graders was developed and analyzed. This contribution is dedicated to the question of how do Ozobots enhance children's computational thinking skills through storytelling activities. Results show that combining educational robotics and storytelling is a promising approach to promote computational thinking.