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AbstractEducational Robotics (ER) and Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) have entered schools and are parts of formal and informal education. Consequently, a wide range of relevant activities and interventions, from kindergarten to high school, are carried out emphasizing their potential benefits, in relation to traditional curriculum, while skepticism also appears among researchers and specialists. To highlight issues on this matter, this paper presents a lucid and systematic literature review exploring the effects and characteristics of ER research. In this work, 21 empirical articles out of 808 records from 8 databases were employed. The main features of the articles, such as research design, sample size, intervention objectives, equipment type, and activities, were recorded and elaborated to understand the types and the significance of inquiries conducted in the field. In addition, 57 studies involving 10,913 participants, which emerged from the review search, were subjected to a meta-analysis and investigated the effects of ER and STEM use on students’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes. The finding showed that most of the related studies are non-experimental with limited duration, and more effort is needed to apply these technologies in less traditional domains like language learning or history. The meta-analysis showed that ER and STEM have a positive impact on knowledge, skills, and attitudes, while students’ skills proved to have benefited the most from the use of these technologies.

This study applies a mixed methods approach to analyze usability, collaboration, and playfulness aspects in introductory programming activities with tangible and graphical user interfaces of two groups of students (24 primary-scholars, 8–9yo; and 14 high-scholars, 12–13yo). The students had prior experience with the two interfaces, having used them in a previous study, a year earlier. In the present work, students started programming in dyads and used both interfaces (graphical - tangible) once again, but without scaffolding and user instructions. Initially, the students carried out programming tasks and then they were allowed to freely interact with the system and develop their programs in order to explore programming concepts on their own. Quantitative and qualitative analysis were based on Fun Toolkit survey, interviews, computer logs, and video records. Usability analysis focused on retention, error rate, and convenience and showed that although no difference between the two interfaces recorded, students’ perceived impression on retention was in favor of the tangible interface. Moreover, interaction with the tangible interface was perceived as more playful by all students and more appropriate for collaborative work by elder students and girls. Finally, gender effects regarding students’ preferences, mostly on the graphical interface, were recorded and analyzed.