Lowering the Floor With VEX 123: Bridging Physical and Virtual Programming for Young Learners

• In Event: Robotics and Social Agents

Abstract

This paper presents VEX 123, a robot and accompanying programming tools, designed for children (ages 5-8). VEX 123 supports programming via three distinct methods designed to support young learners at various points along the conceptual and developmental programming trajectory. Learners can program VEX 123 by: (1)directly pressing buttons on it; (2)using a physical Coder and Coder Cards to define a sequence of instructions; (3)writing programs with a block-based programming language on a tablet or computer. In this paper, we present findings from introducing VEX 123 into an elementary classroom and having learners program it via pressing buttons and using the Coder Cards. This work introduces a new programming tool and a novel programming paradigm to the literature on how to introduce youth to programming.

Authors

• Yuhan Lin, University of Maryland
  Presenting Author

• David Weintrop, University of Maryland
  Presenting Author

• Jason McKenna, VEX Robotics
  Presenting Author