PRIMARY FINDINGS OF THE RESEARCH ON ICT LITERACY EDUCATION PUPILS’ AND TEACHERS’ ICT COMPETENCIES IN PRIMARY AND LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOLS

In 2012 and 2013, the authors of this paper worked on the Czech Science Foundation Project - Information Technology Competencies of Children and Their Development in Primary and Lower Secondary Schools. This article briefly reports on this project focused on examining the current state, structure and trends in development of ICT literacy education in Czech primary (ISCED 1) and lower-secondary schools (ISCED 2). 1,183 schools (ICT teachers) and 2,507 pupils joined the project. It presents the key findings of the research in particular issues including characteristics and thematic units of educational ICT activities, pupils´ information technology skills development and implementation of ICT competencies into educational activities. The research follows up on a similarily orientated project realized in 2006, in which the relevant data was obtained from 930 schools and it seeks to update and compare these research findings

Introducing Computational Thinking in K-12 Education: Historical, Epistemological, Pedagogical, Cognitive, and Affective Aspects

Introduction of scientific and cultural aspects of Computer Science (CS) (called "Computational Thinking" - CT) in K-12 education is fundamental. We focus on three crucial areas. 1. Historical, philosophical, and pedagogical aspects. What are the big ideas of CS we must teach? What are the historical and pedagogical contexts in which CT emerged, and why are relevant? What is the relationship between learning theories (e.g., constructivism) and teaching approaches (e.g., plugged and unplugged)? 2. Cognitive aspects. What is the sentiment of generalist teachers not trained to teach CS? What misconceptions do they hold about concepts like CT and "coding"? 3. Affective and motivational aspects. What is the impact of personal beliefs about intelligence (mindset) and about CS ability? What the role of teaching approaches? This research has been conducted both through historical and philosophical argumentation, and through quantitative and qualitative studies (both on nationwide samples and small significant ones), in particular through the lens of (often exaggerated) claims about transfer from CS to other skills. Four important claims are substantiated. 1. CS should be introduced in K-12 as a tool to understand and act in our digital world, and to use the power of computation for meaningful learning. CT is the conceptual sediment of that learning. We designed a curriculum proposal in this direction. 2. The expressions CT (useful to distantiate from digital literacy) and "coding" can cause misconceptions among teachers, who focus mainly on transfer to general thinking skills. Both disciplinary and pedagogical teacher training is hence needed. 3. Some plugged and unplugged teaching tools have intrinsic constructivist characteristics that can facilitate CS learning, as shown with proposed activities. 4. Growth mindset is not automatically fostered by CS, while not studying CS can foster fixed beliefs. Growth mindset can be fostered by creative computing, leveraging on its constructivist aspects

HOW ICT TEACHERS FEEL ABOUT TEACHING: A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN GREECE AND INDONESIA

The issue of Computer Science entering schools first appeared during the ’60s. The first academic Computer Science Department was founded during this decade at Purdue University and was followed by a second one at Stanford University. As far as the other levels of educational systems are concerned the wide introduction of computers into schools started during the ’80s. This paper refers to a comparative small scale qualitative research that took place between two countries: Greece and Indonesia. It compares Greek and Indonesian Computer Science teachers’ views on whether the Computer Science (or ICT or Computing or Informatics) course improves students’ lives and could in general assist in teaching. Both Greece and Indonesia have included the course of Information and Communication(s) Technologies (ICT) in the curricula of their primary and secondary education levels. Data were collected through interviews (semi-structured and e-mail ones). We interviewed eleven (11) Greek and twenty (20) Indonesian Computer Science (or ICT or Computing or Informatics) teachers. For each country we carefully studied participants’ answers, we categorized and analyzed them in order to obtain reliable results. Then we compared the two countries’ results so as to find similarities and differences between them. After this comparison we drew the conclusion that the points of view of teachers coming from the two aforementioned countries are almost the same. Participants declared that they see teaching as a positive procedure and that they also consider ICT (or Computer Science or Computing or Informatics) course as important for their pupils’/students’ lives. Article visualizations

Teaching programming for secondary school : a pedagogical content knowledge based approach

The general research aim of this thesis is to understand what the PCK of CS for secondary school is, with a special focus on the subject "programming", being programming one of the core subjects of CS. Knowledge of PCK will then be used to assess the Dutch situation, with special focus on Dutch CS textbooks and Dutch teachers. The final aim is to find tailor made solutions for the Dutch CS scenario, where CS risks to disappear from the secondary school curriculum due to several problems. Among the problems evidenced: most Dutch teachers have no solid disciplinary background, being mostly teachers from other disciplines re-trained to teach CS. To support these teachers ad hoc solution, it is necessary to understand the PCK of CS. To do so a preparatory literature study reveals to what extent the PCK of programming has been explored. Because no real effort to portray such knowledge has been done in CS before, an exploratory study has been designed and conducted with expert CS teachers in order to unveil this knowledge. With the knowledge about PCK gathered through this exploratory study, the PCK of textbooks and teachers in the Dutch scenario is evaluated

Education and Digital Transformation: The Riconnessioni Project

Schools, universities, and other educational entities are increasingly aware of the untapped potential of digital transformation, an essential process for increasing efficiency and collaboration, and reducing costs and errors in the management of at-scale training systems. In this context, the "Riconnessioni'' project was promoted by the Compagnia di San Paolo in agreement with the Ministry of Education but planned, started and developed by the Foundation for the School. The digital transformation started with a defined strategy that leveraged opportunities presented by new technology while meeting the objectives of system stakeholders. Through several steps, that strategy was developed for education connecting everything to support tomorrow's digital world and creating strong strategic partnerships able to build an ecosystem connecting people, processes, and things into a powerful, secure, and smart communications network. This paper reports on the three-year Riconnessioni project, which is combining the energies of teachers, managers, administrative staff, students, among others, and experimenting with new learning models, taking advantage of opportunities that emerged from perceptions stemming from concerns and systemic issues. To date, more than 150 schools in Italy have been included in the project, together with 550 teachers selected to scale up the instructional process. Using a methodology called "cascade training'', the 550 selected teachers were able to spread the knowledge to more than 2,600 colleagues. The monitoring and evaluation activity performed in Riconnessioni aims at processing information on implementation and results, following three lines. First, it regularly evaluates project activities from a reporting standpoint. Second, it verifies the plan consistency against implementation achievements. Third, it identifies changes produced and focuses on teachers' and students' skills to evaluate the effects of the project. The assessment framework is also discussed in this work, reporting on results regarding feedback, follow-up, and effects gathered from the field. The evaluation highlighted that labs were indeed able to improve teachers' competence and underlined the added value of cascade training which spread digital domain knowledge and awareness into the group of involved schools

A Framework for Teaching Computational Thinking in Primary Schools: A Namibian Case Study

Several professional development programs have been designed to train in-service teachers on a computational thinking (CT) curriculum, but few researchers have examined how these affect primary school teachers\u27 self-efficacy and knowledge of CT in emerging economies. This study\u27s objective was to create a framework for the professional development of primary school in-service teachers for the teaching of CT (referred to as professional development for primary computational thinking - PD4PCT) to be integrated into teachers\u27 professional development programs. An initial framework was refined after implementing it at a Namibian school with a group of 14 teachers from five different disciplines (social studies, English, natural science, mathematics, and Afrikaans). Literature reviews, pre- and post-intervention questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and self-reporting diaries were used to collect data. The framework was evaluated by experts via an online questionnaire. The findings show that teachers who participated in the professional development program improved their perceived CT knowledge, beliefs, and confidence to teach CT

Possibilities and Challenges of Using Educational Cheminformatics for STEM Education : A SWOT Analysis of a Molecular Visualization Engineering Project

This perspective paper analyses the possibilities and challenges of using cheminformatics as a context for STEM education. The objective is to produce theoretical insights through a SWOT analysis of an authentic educational cheminformatics project where future chemistry teachers engineered a physical 3D model using cheminformatics software and a 3D printer. In this article, engineering is considered as the connective STEM component binding technology (cheminformatics software and databases), science (molecular visualizations), and mathematics (graph theory) together in a pedagogically meaningful whole. The main conclusion of the analysis is that cheminformatics offers great possibilities for STEM education. It is a solution-centered research field that produces concrete artifacts such as visualizations, software, and databases. This is well-suited to STEM education, enabling an engineering-based approach that ensures students’ active and creative roles. The main challenge is a high content knowledge demand, derived from the multidisciplinary nature of cheminformatics. This challenge can be solved via training and collaborative learning environment design. Although the work with educational cheminformatics is still in its infancy, it seems a highly promising context for supporting chemistry learning via STEM education.Peer reviewe

AN EVALUATION OF STUDENTS’ GENERAL INTEREST IN COMPUTER STUDIES AND ITS IMPACT ON SUBJECT PERFORMANCE IN ADO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF EKITI STATE, NIGERIA

This research work examined the effect of attitudes on performance of pupils in computer studies in Ekiti State SecondarySchools. The research work critically examined whether there is any correlation between the attitudes of students and theirperformance in computer studies. The research instrument that was used in the study was the questionnaire for both the studentsand the teachers in the selected secondary schools which was validated by the researcher’s supervisor. Chi-square was used toanalyze the data collected. The sample consisted of one hundred and fifty students and ten teachers from five carefully selectedsecondary schools from Ado Local Government Area of Ekiti State Nigeria . The result of the analysis showed that attitude is onecogent factor that influences performance, that there is no gender discrimination in the attitude of students towards computerstudies, that teacher’s qualification and instructional materials available also influence the attitudes of students. Based on thefindings of this study, recommendations were made. The government should organize seminars to upgrade and update teachersknowledge. The use of instructional materials is emphasized to motivate students and also the teaching methods must bereviewed so that there will lasting impression on students. There should be no gender discrimination in providing opportunitiesand scholarships for further studies in computer science and related disciplines.Keywords: . Evaluation, Students, Interest, Computer Studies, Subject and Performance