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About

Alexandros Merkouris is an educational technology researcher whose work sits at the intersection of computer science education, embodied computing, and human-robot interaction. His research focuses primarily on innovative approaches to teaching programming and computational thinking to children and young learners, with a particular emphasis on tangible, physical, and robotic platforms as pedagogical tools. Merkouris has made significant contributions to understanding how embodied and interactive technologies can lower the barrier to programming education. His most influential work, "Teaching Programming in Secondary Education Through Embodied Computing Platforms" (2017, 69 citations), offers one of the few comparative evaluations of tangible hardware platforms in classroom settings — a critical resource for educators and curriculum designers. His 2015 paper introducing programming through robotic and wearable devices (37 citations) helped establish the value of physical computing as an entry point for young learners. Beyond introductory programming, Merkouris has explored richer educational dimensions, including the development of computational thinking through robot-programmed embodied interactions and even physics concepts like friction through gestural robot control. More recently, his work on collaborative, game-based robotics activities signals a growing interest in social and cooperative learning environments. Collectively, his research offers a coherent vision for making programming education more engaging, tangible, and meaningful for the next generation.