Fostering Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Creativity via Educational Robotics

Abstract

Abstract Communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity—often referred to as the “4Cs”—are regarded as essential soft skills to meet the complex demands of today’s workforce. Consequently, it may be useful to facilitate the acquisition of these abilities from an early age. Meanwhile, greater attention is being given to incorporating robotics into school settings to promote useful skills. However, our understanding of how these develop through educational robotics remains limited. This experimental study aims to address this gap by investigating: (a) if tangibly programmable robots can promote the 4Cs more effectively compared to traditional methods, (b) whether differences are related to participants’ gender, age, or nature of curricular activities, and (c) the structural patterns and directional relationships among the 4Cs through path analysis. In this study, 50 preschoolers participated in 10 activities. The results showed that the experimental group outperformed the control group on the 4Cs, and gender had no significant effect on their development. Yet, it was found that age may influence communication. Additionally, the nature of activities might affect children’s skills growth. Moreover, the path analysis revealed that successful communication during robotics activities might lead to effective collaboration, which in turn may influence both critical thinking and creativity. Overall, these preliminary, exploratory findings offer valuable insights into the potential of robotics as a powerful tool for promoting 21st-century skills in early childhood education.