Pedagogical Classification of Educational Robots in Pre-School Teaching

This study aims to create a rubric based on the pedagogical properties of educational robots for pre-school students and determine the compliance level with educational robot sets. In this sense, the study is considered a first and significant step toward selecting robots based on pedagogical-driven factors. For this aim, a mixed-method research design was employed. A qualitative method was used to create the rubric items, and the rubric development was also supported through a quantitative process by including expert opinions and ensuring content validity. Furthermore, a descriptive survey model, one of the quantitative designs, was used to examine the suitability of educational robots for the pre-school education level. As an outcome of this study, a rubric of four dimensions with 28 items related to the pedagogical features of educational robots in pre-school was created. Furthermore, widely used educational robots at the pre-school level, such as Kidoboto, Lego Wedo, Mbot, Lego Spike, Lego Ev3, and Matatalab, were evaluated by experts using the created rubric.