Enfoques y herramientas en la enseñanza de un primer curso de computación (CS1)

Se presenta un análisis del enfoque clásico de los cursos CS1 (básicamente cursos introductorios de expresión de algoritmos e iniciación a la programación) y algunas herramientas utilizadas en su desarrollo. En particular se discuten diferentes experiencias universitarias, analizando las ventajas del uso de herramientas visuales. Por último se hace un breve análisis crítico de Visual Da Vinci (VDV), un ambiente desarrollado en la UNLP que se ha utilizado sistemáticamente durante los últimos 10 años en los cursos pre-universitarios y en las primeras etapas del curso de Algorítmica y Programación de varias Universidades del país. En las conclusiones se marca la evolución y objetivos futuros para VDV, según el grupo de I/D de las Universidades de La Plata y Patagonia San Juan Bosco que trabajan en el tema.Eje: Informática educativa (IEDU)Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Enfoques y herramientas en la enseñanza de un primer curso de computación (CS1)

Se presenta un análisis del enfoque clásico de los cursos CS1 (básicamente cursos introductorios de expresión de algoritmos e iniciación a la programación) y algunas herramientas utilizadas en su desarrollo. En particular se discuten diferentes experiencias universitarias, analizando las ventajas del uso de herramientas visuales. Por último se hace un breve análisis crítico de Visual Da Vinci (VDV), un ambiente desarrollado en la UNLP que se ha utilizado sistemáticamente durante los últimos 10 años en los cursos pre-universitarios y en las primeras etapas del curso de Algorítmica y Programación de varias Universidades del país. En las conclusiones se marca la evolución y objetivos futuros para VDV, según el grupo de I/D de las Universidades de La Plata y Patagonia San Juan Bosco que trabajan en el tema.Eje: Informática educativa (IEDU)Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Enfoques y herramientas en la enseñanza de un primer curso de computación (CS1)

Se presenta un análisis del enfoque clásico de los cursos CS1 (básicamente cursos introductorios de expresión de algoritmos e iniciación a la programación) y algunas herramientas utilizadas en su desarrollo. En particular se discuten diferentes experiencias universitarias, analizando las ventajas del uso de herramientas visuales. Por último se hace un breve análisis crítico de Visual Da Vinci (VDV), un ambiente desarrollado en la UNLP que se ha utilizado sistemáticamente durante los últimos 10 años en los cursos pre-universitarios y en las primeras etapas del curso de Algorítmica y Programación de varias Universidades del país. En las conclusiones se marca la evolución y objetivos futuros para VDV, según el grupo de I/D de las Universidades de La Plata y Patagonia San Juan Bosco que trabajan en el tema.Eje: Informática educativa (IEDU)Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

From Legos and Logos to Lambda: A Hypothetical Learning Trajectory for Computational Thinking

This thesis utilizes design-based research to examine the integration of computational thinking and computer science into the Finnish elementary mathematics syllabus. Although its focus is on elementary mathematics, its scope includes the perspectives of students, teachers and curriculum planners at all levels of the Finnish school curriculum. The studied artifacts are the 2014 Finnish National Curriculum and respective learning solutions for computer science education. The design-based research (DBR) mandates educators, developers and researchers to be involved in the cyclic development of these learning solutions. Much of the work is based on an in-service training MOOC for Finnish mathematics teachers, which was developed in close operation with the instructors and researchers. During the study period, the MOOC has been through several iterative design cycles, while the enactment and analysis stages of the 2014 Finnish National Curriculum are still proceeding.The original contributions of this thesis lie in the proposed model for teaching computational thinking (CT), and the clarification of the most crucial concepts in computer science (CS) and their integration into a school mathematics syllabus. The CT model comprises the successive phases of abstraction, automation and analysis interleaved with the threads of algorithmic and logical thinking as well as creativity. Abstraction implies modeling and dividing the problem into smaller sub-problems, and automation making the actual implementation. Preferably, the process iterates in cycles, i.e., the analysis feeds back such data that assists in optimizing and evaluating the efficiency and elegance of the solution. Thus, the process largely resembles the DBR design cycles. Test-driven development is also recommended in order to instill good coding practices.The CS fundamentals are function, variable, and type. In addition, the control flow of execution necessitates control structures, such as selection and iteration. These structures are positioned in the learning trajectories of the corresponding mathematics syllabus areas of algebra, arithmetic, or geometry. During the transition phase to the new syllabus, in-service mathematics teachers can utilize their prior mathematical knowledge to reap the benefits of ‘near transfer’. Successful transfer requires close conceptual analogies, such as those that exist between algebra and the functional programming paradigm.However, the integration with mathematics and the utilization of the functional paradigm are far from being the only approaches to teaching computing, and it might turn out that they are perhaps too exclusive. Instead of the grounded mathematics metaphor, computing may be perceived as basic literacy for the 21st century, and as such it could be taught as a separate subject in its own right

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN ROMANIA

The purpose of this paper is to identify the main opportunities and limitations of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The survey was defined with the aim to involve the highest possible number of relevant CSR topics and give the issue a more wholesome perspective. It provides a basis for further comprehension and deeper analyses of specific CSR areas. The conditions determining the success of CSR in Romania have been defined in the paper on the basis of the previously cumulative knowledge as well as the results of various researches. This paper provides knowledge which may be useful in the programs promoting CSR.Corporate social responsibility, Supportive policies, Romania

Teaching/Learning Physics: Integrating Research into Practice

The GIREP-MPTL International conference on Teaching/Learning Physics: Integrating Research into Practice [GIREP-MPTL 2014] was held from 7 to 12 July 2014 at the University of Palermo, Italy. The conference has been organised by the Groupe International de Recherche sur l’Enseignement de la Physique [GIREP] and the Multimedia in Physics Teaching and Learning [MPTL] group and it has been sponsored by the International Commission on Physics Education [ICPE] – Commission 14 of the International Union for Pure and Applied Physics [IUPAP], the European Physical Society – Physics Education Division [EPS-PED], the Latin American Physics Education Network [LAPEN] and the Società Italiana di Fisica [SIF]. The theme of the conference, Teaching/Learning Physics: Integrating Research into Practice, underlines aspects of great relevance in contemporary science education. In fact, during the last few years, evidence based Physics Education Research provided results concerning the ways and strategies to improve student conceptual understanding, interest in Physics, epistemological awareness and insights for the construction of a scientific citizenship. However, Physics teaching practice seems resistant to adopting adapting these findings to their own situation and new research based curricula find difficulty in affirming and spread, both at school and university levels. The conference offered an opportunity for in-depth discussions of this apparently wide-spread tension in order to find ways to do better. The purpose of the GIREP-MPTL 2014 was to bring together people working in physics education research and in physics education at schools from all over the world to allow them to share research results and exchange their experience. About 300 teachers, educators, and researchers, from all continents and 45 countries have attended the Conference contributing with 177 oral presentations, 15 workshops, 11 symposia, and around 60 poster presentations, together with 11 keynote addresses (general talks). After the conference, 147 papers have been submitted for the GIREP-MPTL 2014 International Conference proceedings. Each paper has been reviewed by at least two reviewers, from countries that are different to those of the authors and on the basis of criteria described on the Conference web site. Papers were subsequently revised by authors according to reviewers’ comments and the accepted papers are reported in this book, divided in 8 Sections on the basis of the keywords suggested by authors. The other book section (actually, the first one) contains the papers that six of the keynote talkers sent for publication in this Proceedings Book. We would like to thank all the authors that contributed with their papers to the realization of this book and all the referees that with their criticism helped authors to improve the quality of the papers

The Material Theory of Induction

The fundamental burden of a theory of inductive inference is to determine which are the good inductive inferences or relations of inductive support and why it is that they are so. The traditional approach is modeled on that taken in accounts of deductive inference. It seeks universally applicable schemas or rules or a single formal device, such as the probability calculus. After millennia of halting efforts, none of these approaches has been unequivocally successful and debates between approaches persist. The Material Theory of Induction identifies the source of these enduring problems in the assumption taken at the outset: that inductive inference can be accommodated by a single formal account with universal applicability. Instead, it argues that that there is no single, universally applicable formal account. Rather, each domain has an inductive logic native to it.The content of that logic and where it can be applied are determined by the facts prevailing in that domain. Paying close attention to how inductive inference is conducted in science and copiously illustrated with real-world examples, The Material Theory of Induction will initiate a new tradition in the analysis of inductive inference

The Material Theory of Induction

The fundamental burden of a theory of inductive inference is to determine which are the good inductive inferences or relations of inductive support and why it is that they are so. The traditional approach is modeled on that taken in accounts of deductive inference. It seeks universally applicable schemas or rules or a single formal device, such as the probability calculus. After millennia of halting efforts, none of these approaches has been unequivocally successful and debates between approaches persist. The Material Theory of Induction identifies the source of these enduring problems in the assumption taken at the outset: that inductive inference can be accommodated by a single formal account with universal applicability. Instead, it argues that that there is no single, universally applicable formal account. Rather, each domain has an inductive logic native to it. The content of that logic and where it can be applied are determined by the facts prevailing in that domain