Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Ana Francisca Monteiro is a leading researcher at the intersection of early childhood education and computational literacy. Her work fundamentally reimagines coding not as a technical skill, but as a new form of literacy that can be nurtured from preschool onward. Through her landmark case study, "Coding as Literacy in Preschool" (30 citations), she has provided compelling evidence that young children can engage meaningfully with computational concepts, reshaping how educators approach computer science in early years. Monteiro’s major contributions center on the curricular integration of computational thinking, programming, and robotics in basic education, with a strong emphasis on teacher training. Her influential 2019 papers (8 and 7 citations) outline innovative b-learning training programs that equip educators to bring these technologies into their classrooms inclusively and effectively. As a key figure in the KML II project—a laboratory for programming and robotics learning—she has developed and evaluated practical, developmentally appropriate approaches that bridge theory and classroom practice. Monteiro’s work is essential reading for anyone interested in how we can prepare the next generation for a technologically complex world, starting from the very first years of school.