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Published on December 17, 2024
Didismay Yedra Mena, a Psychological Sciences and Health Science/Nursing major, presented her undergraduate research at the Celebration of Research Excellence and Artistic Talent at Eastern (CREATE) in April 2024. Dr. Sudha Swaminathan served as a faculty mentor. Yedra Mena's research studied socio-emotional behaviors of preschoolers during coding.
Research on coding with tangible robots has affirmed its value for nurturing computational thinking in preschoolers. Recent studies have also acknowledged its value for nurturing socio-emotional growth in younghave not elaborated on the specific socio-emotional competencies.
The purpose of the study was to identify the specific socio-emotional behaviors exhibited by preschoolers while coding. Researchers engaged 22 preschoolers (aged between 3 and 5 years of age) in a series of four increasingly complex coding sessions with a tangible robot. All sessions were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed to identify socio-emotional behaviors and expressions.
Across the sessions, children exhibited seven socio-emotional behaviors including exhibitions of trust, self-concept, expression of emotions, regulation of emotions, responding to a peer’s emotions, regulation of their impulses/behaviors, and collaboration. Spontaneous expressions of appropriate emotions in response to the robot enacting their codes was the most frequently evinced behavior. Expressions of their self-concept and responding to a peer’s emotions were other frequently seen behaviors. Expressions of trust and collaboration were seen to increase in frequency as the children advanced in their coding sessions.
The results offer validation of the value of coding for socioemotional growth in preschoolers.
