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

Δημιουργία εκπαιδευτικού υλικού για την υπολογιστική σκέψη

Διπλωματική εργασία--Πανεπιστήμιο Μακεδονίας, Θεσσαλονίκη, 2019.Η Υπολογιστική Σκέψη, που αποτελεί βασική έννοια της Υπολογιστικής Επιστήμης, τα τελευταία χρόνια έχει προσελκύσει ξανά το ενδιαφέρον της επιστημονικής κοινότητας. Μέσα από την εφαρμογή των ιδιαίτερων χαρακτηριστικών της διευκολύνεται, μεταξύ άλλων, η διαχείριση της πολυπλοκότητας και της επίλυσης προβλημάτων. Η δεξιότητα της Υπολογιστικής Σκέψης αποτελεί απαραίτητο εργαλείο της καθημερινής ζωής καθώς έχει εφαρμογή όχι μόνο στην Επιστήμη των Υπολογιστών και την ευρύτερη Ακαδημαϊκή Κοινότητα, αλλά και σε ποικίλους άλλους τομείς. Για τους λόγους αυτούς κρίνεται απαραίτητη η ενσωμάτωση της εκμάθησής της σε όλες τις βαθμίδες εκπαίδευσης. Σκοπός της παρούσας εργασίας ήταν η δημιουργία εκπαιδευτικού υλικού που θα συνέβαλε στην ανάπτυξη των δεξιοτήτων της Υπολογιστικής Σκέψης. Προκειμένου να δημιουργηθεί το υλικό αυτό προηγήθηκε η μελέτη και διατύπωση των ορισμών και των χαρακτηριστικών της Υπολογιστικής Σκέψης, εξετάστηκαν οι τρόποι ενσωμάτωσής της σε προγράμματα σπουδών και αναζητήθηκαν τα διαθέσιμα εργαλεία και πλαίσια αξιολόγησής της. Στην παρούσα εργασία, η ενσωμάτωση της Υπολογιστικής Σκέψης στο προπτυχιακό μάθημα «Εισαγωγή στην Πληροφορική» του Τμήματος Πληροφορικής του Α.Π.Θ. πραγματοποιήθηκε με τη χρήση της γλώσσας προγραμματισμού Python. Το εκπαιδευτικό υλικό που δημιουργήθηκε είχε τη μορφή υποθετικών σεναρίων και βασίστηκε στην διδακτέα ύλη του μαθήματος. Η συμμετοχή των εκπαιδευόμενων στις εργασίες ήταν προαιρετική. Από τη στατιστική ανάλυση των δεδομένων προέκυψε ότι οι φοιτητές που παρέδωσαν τις προαιρετικές εργασίες φάνηκε να ενίσχυσαν τις δεξιότητες της Υπολογιστικής τους Σκέψης, σε σύγκριση με τους φοιτητές που δεν τις παρέδωσαν, όπως αξιολογήθηκε από τη βαθμολογία που έλαβαν στην τελική γραπτή εξέταση. Το εύρημα αυτό φαίνεται να επιβεβαιώνει την εκπλήρωση του σκοπού για τον οποίο δημιουργήθηκε το εκπαιδευτικό υλικό. Η αξιολόγηση των δεξιοτήτων των φοιτητών πραγματοποιήθηκε και με τη χορήγηση ενός τεστ Υπολογιστικής Σκέψης, αλλά εξαιτίας της μικρής συμμετοχής των φοιτητών δεν κατέστη δυνατή η στατιστική τους επεξεργασία για την εξαγωγή συμπερασμάτων

Exercício do pensamento computacional no ensino superior em computação : investigação de uma abordagem baseada em desafios

Orientador: Dr. Roberto PereiraTese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências Exatas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Informática. Defesa : Curitiba, 11/04/2023Inclui referências: p. 73-86Área de concentração: Ciência da ComputaçãoResumo: Diretrizes curriculares da graduação em Computação recomendam que estudantes desenvolvam o Pensamento Computacional, mas não especificam quando e como essas habilidades devem ser desenvolvidas. A literatura na área também reconhece a importância e relevância do Pensamento Computacional, entretanto, ainda existem poucas evidências em torno de como apoiar o exercício dessas habilidades no ensino superior em Computação. Diante do exposto, esta pesquisa teve como objetivo investigar uma abordagem para apoiar o exercício do Pensamento Computacional no ensino superior em Computação. A abordagem Pense Computacionalmente foi criada com o propósito de apoiar professores e pesquisadores durante a concepção e condução de práticas educacionais que promovam o Pensamento Computacional por meio do processo de solução dos desafios que considera os quatro pilares do Pensamento Computacional. A abordagem tem como premissa que o Pensamento Computacional deve ser explicitamente exercitado no primeiro semestre da graduação de forma significativa, colaborativa, contextualizada, desplugada e baseada em desafios. Desenvolvemos a abordagem para ser utilizada ou adaptada para diferentes contextos educacionais, sendo composta por: um conjunto de orientações sobre como preparar e conduzir o exercício do Pensamento Computacional; um conjunto de sete práticas (desafios) para serem utilizadas ou inspirar a criação de novas; um método para guiar a condução da prática e instruir estudantes a proporem uma solução; e um artefato para apoiar a análise das soluções para coletar evidências do exercício do Pensamento Computacional. Para experimentarmos a abordagem e investigar as potencialidades e fragilidades, realizamos seis estudos de caso. Os estudos de caso foram conduzidos em ofertas diferentes da disciplina de Introdução à Ciência da Computação, dos cursos de Bacharelado em Ciência da Computação e Informática Biomédica da UFPR. Os resultados revelam que os desafios foram bem avaliados tanto pelos docentes quanto discentes, e foram muito bons em provocar o raciocínio e promover o interesse. Além disso, os resultados demonstram que estudantes exercitaram o Pensamento Computacional e desenvolveram a percepção do exercício dessas habilidades. Desse modo, atingimos o objetivo específico de investigar uma abordagem para apoiar o exercício do Pensamento Computacional no ensino superior em Computação. Como resultados desta pesquisa também podemos citar: contribuições conceituais: definição do Pensamento Computacional e suas habilidades no contexto do ensino superior em Computação; relação dos passos realizados durante a resolução de um desafio com as habilidades do Pensamento Computacional; e definição de como coletar evidências do exercício do Pensamento Computacional; contribuição metodológica: como conduzir atividades que foquem no exercício do Pensamento Computacional no ensino superior em Computação; e contribuição técnica: abordagem formatada em material didático.Abstract: The curriculum guidelines for Computing undergraduate courses point out that computational thinking should be a skill exercised by all students in those courses. However, they do not reveal when and how these skills should be developed. The literature in the area also recognizes the importance and relevance of Computational Thinking. There is still little evidence around how to support the exercise of these skills in higher education in Computing. Given the above, this research aimed to investigate an approach to support the exercise of Computational Thinking in higher education in Computing. The Pense Computacionalmente approach was created to support teachers and researchers during the design and conduct of educational practices that promote the exercise of computational thinking through the process of solving challenges considering the four pillars of computational thinking. The approach is based on the premise that Computational Thinking should be explicitly exercised in the first semester of undergraduate courses in a meaningful, collaborative, contextualized, unplugged, and challenge-based way. We developed the approach to be used or adapted for different educational contexts, comprising: a set of guidelines on how to prepare and conduct the exercise of Computational Thinking; a set of seven practices (challenges) to be used or to inspire the creation of new ones; a method to guide the conduct of the practice and instruct the students to propose a solution; and an artifact to support the analysis of solutions to collect evidence from the exercise of Computational Thinking. In order to try out the approach and investigate its strengths and weaknesses, we carried out six case studies. The case studies were conducted in different offerings of the subject Introduction to Computer Science, of the Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science and Biomedical Informatics at UFPR. The studies' results reveal that the challenges were well evaluated by both teachers and students, and were very good at provoking reasoning and promoting students' interest. In addition, the results demonstrate that students exercised Computational Thinking and developed the perception of exercising these skills. In this way, we achieved the specific objective of investigating an approach to support the exercise of Computational Thinking in higher education in Computing. As results of this research, we can also mention: conceptual contributions: the definition of Computational Thinking and its abilities in the context of higher education in Computing; the relationship of the steps taken during the challenge resolution with Computational Thinking skills; and the characterization of how to collect evidence of the exercise of the Computational Thinking; methodological contribution: how to conduct activities that focus on the exercise of Computational Thinking in higher education in Computing; and technical contribution: approach formatted in didactic material