An Analysis of Teacher-Student Interaction Patterns in a Robotics Course for Kindergarten Children: A Pilot Study

ABSTRACT

Compared with other media, programmable bricks provide children with the opportunity to create their own product and, through this process, to express creative thinking. Studies have found that learning robotics or integrating programming bricks into courses can help to develop students’ problem-solving abilities and enhance their learning performance. This study attempted to develop a one-to-one Topobo robotics course for kindergarten children and to explore teacher-student interaction patterns. This study used a creative thinking spiral as the framework for the Topobo robotics course. The research sample included a five-year-old child and a preschool teacher. Topobo, the programmable bricks, was the main learning tool in this course, and the sequential analysis method was used to identify teacher-student interaction patterns. Based on the frequency of the teacher-student interactions, this study found that two behaviors, the student’s “play” and the teacher’s “guidance,” appeared most frequently. Moreover, the results of sequential analysis and content analysis of the videotaped learning process indicated that the teacher’s guidance helped the student to assemble or play with the Topobo bricks. The teacher’s questions encouraged the student to express and share his ideas or identify and solve problems. This study proposes suggestions for future studies on this issue.