Mathematical Skills via Robotics in Early Childhood Education: A Bibliometric and Content Analysis
摘要
Nowadays, new technologies and educational robotics are regarded as contributors to effective learning from an early age and as useful tools for educators. Yet, the educational robotics trends, particularly in domains, such as mathematics in early childhood education (up to 6 years old), have not been thoroughly investigated and systematically presented. Therefore, this current work employs bibliometric and content analysis to map and explore the field of educational robotics related to preschoolers’ mathematical skills. In detail, 36 papers retrieved from the Scopus database have been studied thoroughly and analyzed with VOSviewer and Atlas.ti software. Our findings show that the USA has the highest publication performance in the related field. Bers and Sullivan arise as the most influential authors. Moreover, we reveal that researchers often choose the quantitative method to analyze data stemming from experimental studies mainly. Furthermore, tangible robots (BeeBot and KIBO) are frequently used in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) and computational thinking activities correlated with Maths without though focusing on other skills such as the 4Cs (communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity). In addition, robots are used solely as programming tools. Participants were asked to navigate them on mats to achieve specific goals during the intervention Besides, warm-up and free experimentation activities are limited. Accordingly, we suggest designing robotics activities tailored to kindergarten age and needs to enhance various mathematical skills. Finally, step-by-step activities within learning models suitable for preschool such as the 5E model are recommended.