Early Robotics : A Case Study of Technology Education in Pre-Primary Education ;
: Rönkkö, Marja-Leena; Aerila, Juli-Anna
: Hallström, Jonas; Buckley, Jeffrey; Kilbrink, Nina; Lundberg, Louise; McDyer, Manus; McLain, Matt; Nordlöf, Charlotta; Norström, Per
: International Pupils’ Attitudes Towards Technology Conference (PATT)
: 2026
Linköping Electronic Conference Proceedings
: The 43rd International Pupils’ Attitudes Towards Technology Conference 2026 : Technology Education Across Boundaries : Linköping University, Norrköping, Sweden, 15th to 18th June 2026
: 213
: 936
: 945
: 978-91-8118-083-1
: 1650-3686
: 1650-3740
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3384/ecp213.1529
: https://ecp.ep.liu.se/index.php/patt/article/view/1529
The Finnish National Core Curriculum for pre-primary education emphasizes fostering children’s interest in science and technology, creative designing and making, problem-solving, exploration and experimentation with structures and materials, and reflection on the processes and products, with all competences approached in an integrated way. The study illustrates a learning process in which technology education and arts activities are integrated into the joint objective of exploring and interacting with the environment. During the learning process, children created a robot that was inspired by nature and artistic activities in an outdoor environment. The study was conducted with a pre-primary group in Western Finland in the spring of 2022. The group included 19 children, 12 boys and 7 girls, all aged 5-6. The primary data consists of children's outcomes – photographs of land art pieces serving as sketches for the robots, robot designs and ready-made robots– and the secondary data consists of children's written documents of their oral stories about the robots. The findings reveal that integrating technology education to artistic activities and outdoor learning inspired children to create detailed and individual robots as well as concentrate on designing and building their robots. The robot's implementation was motivating for the children and supported the learning of technological details. Furthermore, these findings suggest that careful pedagogical planning and multisensory experiences can support the implementation of diverse STEAM projects and deepen children’s involvement.
pre-primary education, robotics, STEAM education, Technology Education