HandsOn-Computing: Promoting Algorithmic Thinking Through Haptic Educational Robots

Computational thinking lies at the intellectual core of computing. Promoting computational thinking ability requires that students are provided with a clear understanding of the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, logic, algorithms, and data representation. We propose to use force-feedback educational robotic devices for hands-on teaching of computational thinking. The addition of haptic feedback for teaching abstract concepts of computer science offers several advantages, as haptic feedback (i) enables an effective means of data hiding, (ii) ensures a high level of student engagement by adding another pathway for perception and enabling active physical interaction, and (iii) improves student motivation through the novelty effect. Moreover, visually impaired students may benefit from replacement of visualization with haptic feedback. We present a force-feedback application for teaching sorting algorithms and report initial student evaluations of integrating haptics to promote computational thinking.