Robotics and early-years stem education: botSTEM framework, toolkit, and implemented activities in Sweden

botSTEM is an ERASMUS+ project aiming to raise the utilisation of inquiry-based collaborative learning and robots-enhanced education. The project outputs are specifically aimed to provide in- and pre-service teachers in Childhood and Primary Education and children aged between 4 and 8, with research-based materials and best practices that use integrated Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) and robot-based approaches, including code-learning, for enhancing scientific literacy in young children. Initial results from the project in terms of a collection of good educational practices summarized in a freely downloadable Toolkit and results from a qualitative analysis of implemented activities during science teaching in Swedish preschools are presented here. The preliminary analysis of the implementations indicate that robots function as motivation factors in young children’s inquiry of science and engineering design technology, in both teacher and children initiated learning situations.