Computational Thinking to Enhance Educational Robotics in Secondary School's Curriculum

Synthesis: Valls i Pou (2026) examines how computational thinking can enhance the effective integration of educational robotics into secondary school curricula. Arguing that educational robotics is a strong resource for fostering problem solving, critical thinking, and STEAM subjects, the paper relates the theoretical framework of computational thinking to 21st-century skills and secondary-school curriculum knowledge linked to STEAM. Through a literature analysis, it connects computational-thinking concepts and skills with curricular content, and proposes a concrete approach for linking computational-thinking concepts from the theoretical framework into official secondary curricula to guide robotics education.

Key Findings

Educational robotics enhances problem solving, critical thinking, and STEAM promotion — but requires explicit development of computational-thinking concepts during student training.

21st-century skills are an accepted part of students' educational development and should be integrated with computational thinking and robotics activities.

A literature analysis relates computational-thinking concepts and skills to the secondary-school curriculum, showing how the theoretical framework maps onto STEAM subject knowledge.

The paper proposes linking computational-thinking theoretical concepts into the official secondary curriculum as a guide for applying educational robotics effectively.

Study Design & Method

This is a conceptual/literature-analysis paper (not an empirical study). It reviews the theoretical framework of computational thinking, relates its concepts and skills to 21st-century skills and STEAM subjects in the secondary-school curriculum, and develops a proposal for embedding computational-thinking concepts into official curricula to guide educational robotics practice. It draws on educational robotics and computational-thinking literature to establish the conceptual links.

Implications for AI in Education

The paper supports robotics as a vehicle for developing Computational Thinking in secondary schools, arguing that robots are most effective for learning when computational-thinking concepts are made explicit and aligned to the STEAM curriculum. It connects computational thinking to K 12 teaching and to 21st-century skills such as problem solving and critical thinking. For educators, it offers a framework for mapping computational-thinking competencies onto existing curriculum knowledge so robotics activities serve genuine learning goals rather than functioning as isolated technical exercises.

Limitations

As a conceptual and literature-based paper, it presents a proposal rather than empirical evidence of learning outcomes; the proposed curriculum integration is not yet validated in practice. The focus is on the secondary-school context and STEAM subjects, so generalizability to other levels and disciplines is limited.

Connected Concepts

Computational Thinking

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Citation

Valls i Pou, A. (2026). Computational thinking to enhance educational robotics in secondary school's curriculum. Proceedings of the 5th IEEE International Conference (GRETEL, La Salle Campus Barcelona, Ramon Llull University).