-1- CONCRETE-ABSTRACTIONS STAGE IN KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN'S PERCEPTION AND CONSTRUCTION OF ROBOTIC CONTROL RULES Sharona-Tal Levy, David, Mioduser, Vadim Talis Tel-Aviv University, School of Education, Ramat-Aviv, 69978, ISRAEL Fax: 972-3-6407752, e-mail: levyst@post.tau.ac.il Knowledge Technology Lab - Research Report No. 70 ABSTRACT Research concerning young children’s perception and learning of technological systems is sparse. Today, controlled technological systems have become central to everyday life - hence, the importance of studying young children’s perceptions of the structure and function of controlled systems. It is possible to represent control knowledge, using different representations such as scripts or rules. Developmentally, scripts are earliest to emerge. For example, children tend to categorize objects in space according to the features of particular events. However, rules or productions are powerful tools for representing control. In the present study, we have examined the “rule-thinking” of young children and its development in a real-world constructive environment - a computer-controlled robot, traversing a modifiable terrain. The overall research questions we pose are: (1) What characterizes children’s perception of control rules in technological systems? (2) What characterizes the changes in perception as the children gain proficiency in controlling such systems? The sample included six children, their ages spanned 5y4m- 6y0m. Two sets of instruments have been developed. One is a computerized control environment, scaffolding the children’s learning process. This environment includes a computer interface, a physical robot and modifiable scenes for the robot’s movement according to