Accelerating K-12 computational thinking using scaffolding, staging, and abstraction

We describe a three-stage model of computing instruction beginning with a simple, highly scaffolded programming en-vironment (Kodu) and progressing to more challenging frame-works (Alice and Lego NXT-G). In moving between frame-works, students explore the similarities and differences in how concepts such as variables, conditionals, and looping are realized. This can potentially lead to a deeper under-standing of programming, bringing students closer to true computational thinking. Some novel strategies for teach-ing with Kodu are outlined. Finally, we briefly report on our methodology and select preliminary results from a pi-lot study using this curriculum with students ages 10–17, including several with disabilities

Learning to communicate computationally with Flip: a bi-modal programming language for game creation

Teaching basic computational concepts and skills to school children is currently a curricular focus in many countries. Running parallel to this trend are advances in programming environments and teaching methods which aim to make computer science more accessible, and more motivating. In this paper, we describe the design and evaluation of Flip, a programming language that aims to help 11–15 year olds develop computational skills through creating their own 3D role-playing games. Flip has two main components: 1) a visual language (based on an interlocking blocks design common to many current visual languages), and 2) a dynamically updating natural language version of the script under creation. This programming-language/natural-language pairing is a unique feature of Flip, designed to allow learners to draw upon their familiarity with natural language to “decode the code”. Flip aims to support young people in developing an understanding of computational concepts as well as the skills to use and communicate these concepts effectively. This paper investigates the extent to which Flip can be used by young people to create working scripts, and examines improvements in their expression of computational rules and concepts after using the tool. We provide an overview of the design and implementation of Flip before describing an evaluation study carried out with 12–13 year olds in a naturalistic setting. Over the course of 8 weeks, the majority of students were able to use Flip to write small programs to bring about interactive behaviours in the games they created. Furthermore, there was a significant improvement in their computational communication after using Flip (as measured by a pre/post-test). An additional finding was that girls wrote more, and more complex, scripts than did boys, and there was a trend for girls to show greater learning gains relative to the boys

Reflecting on Computational Thinking Studies for High School Education

Berpikir komputasional telah diakui sebagai suatu kebutuhan dalam menyelesaikan masalah yang kompleks. Beberapa penelitian telah dilakukan untuk memperkenalkan keterampilan ini ke semua tingkat pendidikan. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk meninjau penelitian tentang berpikir komputasi pada tingkat sekolah menengah. Khususnya, penelitian ini mengkaji domain penelitian, mengidentifikasi metode-metode untuk memperkenalkan berpikir komputasional, serta konsep-konsep berpikir komputasional yang diajarkan kepada pelajar. Tinjauan literatur sistematik dilakukan untuk mencapai tujuan tersebut. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan: penelitian berpikir komputasional mencakup kajian teori, pengembangan kurikulum, pengukuran, dan pengembangan alat. Kajian teori ditujukan untuk memformulasikan konsep. Selain keterampilan teknis, soft-skills telah dinyatakan sebagai elemen berpikir komputasional. Namun, perhatian untuk melibatkan soft-skills dalam penelitian masih kurang. Sebagian besar penelitian difokuskan pada integrasi berpikir komptasional ke dalam kurikulum. Coding menjadi metode yang paling banyak digunakan untuk mengajarkan berpikir komputasional. Sehingga, algorithmic thinking dan abstraction muncul sebagai keterampilan yang paling sering diajarkan atau diukur. Akhirnya, penelitian ini menggarisbawahi adanya kesenjangan untuk dikaji lebih lanjut yaitu berkaitan dengan pengukuran keterampilan berpikir komputasional dan untuk menyertakan soft-skills pada penelitian berpikir komputasional.   Kata Kunci—Berpikir komputasional, Sekolah menengah, Penyelesaian masala

Teaching Computational Thinking: are we considering students' socio-cultural context?

INTRODUCTION: Research to promote Computational Thinking (CT) has become frequent and carried out with the most different characteristics. Educational researchers argue that learning research needs to consider aspects of students' sociocultural context, regardless of what tools are used and how content is worked. However, it is not known if, and to what extent, these aspects are being considered in research to promote CT. OBJECTIVE: This research investigates whether the literature on initiatives to teach CT is recognizing and exploring aspects of students' sociocultural context and, mainly, how this is occurring. METHOD:A systematic review of the literature covering a decade (2007-2017) of articles published in the main vehicles of Computer Science in Education and Computer Science, considering the national and international scenario. RESULTS: The data indicate the students' sociocultural context is not being considered in the activities, although there is evidence that the scenario may be beginning to change. CONCLUSION: The results show that there is a growing concern and an evident effort by researchers to bring relevant elements of students' lives into the conducted practices. However, although it is possible to identify aspects of students' sociocultural context being considered by the mapped researches, it is still necessary to advance in terms of the rigor of the characterization of these aspects and the theoretical basis of the research

Computational Thinking in Education: Where does it fit? A systematic literary review

Computational Thinking (CT) has been described as an essential skill which everyone should learn and can therefore include in their skill set. Seymour Papert is credited as concretising Computational Thinking in 1980 but since Wing popularised the term in 2006 and brought it to the international community's attention, more and more research has been conducted on CT in education. The aim of this systematic literary review is to give educators and education researchers an overview of what work has been carried out in the domain, as well as potential gaps and opportunities that still exist. Overall it was found in this review that, although there is a lot of work currently being done around the world in many different educational contexts, the work relating to CT is still in its infancy. Along with the need to create an agreed-upon definition of CT lots of countries are still in the process of, or have not yet started, introducing CT into curriculums in all levels of education. It was also found that Computer Science/Computing, which could be the most obvious place to teach CT, has yet to become a mainstream subject in some countries, although this is improving. Of encouragement to educators is the wealth of tools and resources being developed to help teach CT as well as more and more work relating to curriculum development. For those teachers looking to incorporate CT into their schools or classes then there are bountiful options which include programming, hands-on exercises and more. The need for more detailed lesson plans and curriculum structure however, is something that could be of benefit to teachers

A Systematic Review of Studies on Educational Robotics

There has been a steady increase in the number of studies investigating educational robotics and its impact on academic and social skills of young learners. Educational robots are used both in and out of school environments to enhance K–12 students’ interest, engagement, and academic achievement in various fields of STEM education. Some prior studies show evidence for the general benefits of educational robotics as being effective in providing impactful learning experiences. However, there appears to be a need to determine the specific benefits which have been achieved through robotics implementation in K–12 formal and informal learning settings. In this study, we present a systematic review of the literature on K–12 educational robotics. Based on our review process with specific inclusion and exclusion criteria, and a repeatable method of systematic review, we found 147 studies published from the years 2000 to 2018. We classified these studies under five themes: (1) general effectiveness of educational robotics; (2) students’ learning and transfer skills; (3) creativity and motivation; (4) diversity and broadening participation; and (5) teachers’ professional development. The study outlines the research questions, presents the synthesis of literature, and discusses findings across themes. It also provides guidelines for educators, practitioners, and researchers in areas of educational robotics and STEM education, and presents dimensions of future research

Intervenções pedagógicas para o desenvolvimento do Pensamento Computacional com auxílio da Robótica Educativa: uma revisão sistemática

The development of Computational Thinking (CT) skills in educational institutions is currently a concern in several countries. Admittedly, the concept has developed that the ability to think like a Computer Scientist has educational benefits – capacity for reflection, problem solving and the understanding that everything around us is intrinsically linked to digital technology – and economic benefits with trained professionals. The objective of this systematic review of research (SRR) was to identify which pedagogical interventions have been used in the development of the CT with the help of Educational Robotics (ER) using ER Kits LEGO Mindstorm together with students of the equivalent of elementary school and high school, with the objective of constituting bases that allow the elaboration of a pedagogical intervention in a vocational high school, whose students are at these educational levels. Although the researches are promising in the use of ER for the development of CT, there are still gaps to be explored, since none of the researches addresses students of professional education. Recent research carried out in the area of ​​Information Technology (IT) shows that in a period of five years approximately 800 thousand new opportunities will be created in the area, however, in Brazil, just over 53 thousand technology professionals are trained per year. This finding emerges from a discussion about the fact that the development of the CT is essential in the training of IT professionals, which is in increasing demand in our society.O desenvolvimento das habilidades do Pensamento Computacional (PC) nas instituições de ensino é, atualmente, uma preocupação em diversos países. Reconhecidamente se desenvolve a concepção de que a habilidade em se pensar como um cientista da Computação possui benefícios educacionais – capacidade de reflexão, resolução de problemas e o entendimento de que tudo ao nosso redor esta intrinsicamente ligado a tecnologia digital – e econômicos com profissionais capacitados. O objetivo desta Revisão Sistemática de Literatura (RSL) foi o de identificar quais intervenções pedagógicas vem sendo utilizadas no desenvolvimento do PC com o auxílio da Robótica Educativa (RE) utilizando Kits RE LEGO Mindstorm junto a discentes do equivalente ao Ensino Fundamental II e Ensino Médio, com objetivo de constituir bases que permitam elaborar uma intervenção pedagógica em uma escola de ensino médio integrado ao ensino profissional, cujos estudantes estão nestes níveis educacionais. Embora as pesquisas sejam promissoras no uso da RE para o desenvolvimento do PC, ainda existem lacunas a serem exploradas, visto que nenhuma das pesquisas aborda discentes da educação profissional. Recentes pesquisas realizadas na área da Tecnologia da Informação (TI) nos trazem que em um período de cinco anos serão criadas aproximadamente 800 mil novas oportunidades na área, entretanto, no Brasil, formam-se pouco mais de 53 mil profissionais de tecnologia por ano. Tal constatação emerge discussão acerca de que o desenvolvimento do PC é imprescindível na formação de profissionais de TI demanda cada vez maior em nossa sociedade

Student Authored Digital Games as Authentic Learning: Using the \u3cem\u3eCan You Create a Game Challenge\u3c/em\u3e in Elementary Classrooms

This embedded single-case study examined an elementary classroom implementation of a digital game authoring challenge aligned with state mandated content standards. Teachers used the game challenge over four 50 minute class periods during a three month period of time. A total of twenty five (n=25) 4th grade students, nine (n=9) 5th grade students and three (n=3) STEM teachers participated in the study. The central research question for this study is: How do elementary teachers use a game challenge specifically aligned with Common Core/Next Generation Science (NGSS) state standards for instruction? Qualitative data, drawn from participating teacher interviews, classroom observations, student project reflections and document analysis of the student-authored digital games, were analyzed using Hatch’s (2002) typological analysis. Findings suggest that, while using a standards-based gaming task within instruction is effective in promoting dimensions of an authentic learning environment for students, more research is needed in the areas of 1) professional development for teachers in game design and computational thinking; 2) the use of a digital game task as an assessment for students with disabilities or who struggle in other content areas; 3) the use of a digital game task for assessment in other content areas; and 4) how the computational thinking skills and the dispositions of teachers affect the flow of knowledge in classrooms using a digital game task

A complementary view for better understanding the term computational thinking

The term Computational Thinking is closely related to efforts connected to teach a systematic and well-structured way of problem solving that includes a set of tools and techniques used in Computer Science. While substantial research in this field has shown promising outcomes concerning distinct intervention programs and teaching initiatives, the term Computational Thinking itself requires to be revised in order to get a wider consensus about its meaning and purpose. This paper contributes to the ongoing quest concerning the definition of the term by starting with a fundamental perspective on computational theory and corresponding concepts in order to describe the theoretical building blocks of a systematic view to further elaborate on an approach for teaching and learning about Computational Thinking. Additionally, based on this foundational effort, more advanced concepts are presented and discussed in order to better understand this domain. Finally, the paper identifies and discusses a set of relevant challenges taking a cognitive psychology perspective on Computational Thinking

The linguistic construction of business reasoning: Towards a language-based model of decision-making in undergraduate business

This thesis reports on research whose aim is to arrive at a linguistically theorised understanding of the process of decision-making in undergraduate business studies. The use of ‘real-life’ tasks such as country reports – the major assessment task of the interdisciplinary unit Business in the Global Environment at a metropolitan Australian university – is intended to prepare students for the skills of ‘problem-solving’, ‘decision-making’ and professional report writing in international business environments. However, as indicated by the large number of students failing this task, few students possess the sophisticated linguistic resources necessary to build the generic complexity and persuasive rhetoric this high-stakes task demands. This study is concerned with identifying the linguistic demands of demonstrating decision-making in country reports. Current modelling of ‘big texts’ in SFL (Martin, 1994, 1995) is insufficient for understanding longer texts stretching across the many pages tertiary students are generally required to write. This thesis will show through fine-grained linguistic analyses of High Distinction student assignments that not all ‘big texts’ are macrogenres made up of elemental genre complexes and illustrate that embedded genres play a fundamental role in enabling texts of the length of business country reports to grow bigger than a page. Drawing on discourse semantics (Martin, 1992; Martin & Rose, 2007; Martin & White, 2005), this thesis also will also show how business reasoning is construed in undergraduate business reports through different types of grammatical structures and how successful student writers construct cause-effect relations and three major types of rhetorical moves in these texts. By making visible the academically valued meanings by which skillful writers demonstrate the process of decision-making in undergraduate business country reports, this research has pedagogical implications for academic literacy interventions aimed at making explicit the basis of achievement in business studies. It is hoped that this study will open up future research directions for the continued study of knowledge-building in undergraduate business studies