Educational robotics and STEM competence in early childhood education: Systematic review and meta-analysis of programmes and outcomes

Educational robotics is presented as a resource increasingly present in the early childhood education stage, allowing the development of STEM competences in a practical and motivating way. Due to the evolution of its use in the classroom, the aim of this paper was to analyse and evaluate research on robotics applied to early childhood education. To do so, we used a systematic literature review methodology based on The Campbell Collaboration, analysing a total of 15 scientific papers that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Among the results, different robotics resources are shown, among which Bee-Bot stands out, most STEM competences are worked on, except engineering, and almost all the results of the programmes are significant, with gains in the experimental groups. For its part, the meta-analysis collected 13 papers and showed significant results in STEM competences by the experimental group versus the control group. Finally, the use of educational robotics improves STEM competences, which is why it is necessary to use it in classrooms from an early age, as it will help to promote their comprehensive development from an early age through a more practical and motivating education for students.