Programming errors and the attribution of intentionality to educational robots

This paper explores, from a philosophical perspective, the connection between students’ mental models of robots and their programming errors in educational robotics (ER). Pea (1986) identified the “superbug”, a type of programming errors flowing from a misguided attribution of intentionality to computers. We substantiate, and illustrate with examples, the claim that a connection exists between students’ mental models of robots and their programming errors, exploring the underlying assumptions. We then refine Pea’s thesis arguing that the superbug does not result from the attribution of mental states to the system ‘per se’, but rather from the attribution of ‘incorrect’ ones. These reflections suggest possible connections between research on the attribution of mental states to robots, ER and computational thinking and provide insights for the design of teacher training.