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About

Anaclara Gerosa is a developmental and educational researcher whose work sits at the intersection of early childhood cognition, computational thinking, and educational robotics. Her research has made significant contributions to understanding how young children — particularly preschoolers and kindergarteners — develop computational thinking (CT) skills, and how technology-based interventions can support this development. Her most cited work, a 2021 systematic review on preschool children, robots, and computational thinking (124 citations), established a foundational framework for the field by synthesizing existing literature and identifying key trends and gaps. Complementing this, her investigation into cognitive abilities and CT at age five (59 citations) provided empirical evidence linking early sequencing and symbolic reasoning to computational skills. Gerosa has also pioneered intervention-based research, demonstrating how educational robotics programs can foster CT in young learners while accounting for factors such as task engagement and classroom design. Her 2022 studies examining children's engagement and social dynamics around programmable robots reflect a nuanced, applied approach to early STEM education. Collectively, her work has helped shape both theory and practice in early childhood CT education, making her a leading voice in this rapidly growing field.