Publication trends over 10 years of computational thinking research

The current study aimed to review studies on computational thinking (CT) indexed in Web of Science (WOS) and ERIC databases. A thorough search in electronic databases revealed 96 studies on computational thinking which were published between 2006 and 2016. Studies were exposed to a quantitative content analysis through using an article control form developed by the researchers. Studies were summarized under several themes including the research purpose, design, methodology, sampling characteristics, data analysis, and main findings. The findings were reported using descriptive statistics to see the trends. It was observed that there was an increase in the number of CT studies in recent years, and these were mainly conducted in the field of computer sciences. In addition, CT studies were mostly published in journals in the field of Education and Instructional Technologies. Theoretical paradigm and literature review design were preferred more in previous studies. The most commonly used sampling method was the purposive sampling. It was also revealed that samples of previous CT studies were generally pre-college students. Written data collection tools and quantitative analysis were mostly used in reviewed papers. Findings mainly focused on CT skills. Based on current findings, recommendations and implications for further researches were provided

Coding as literacy in preschool: a case study

Coding is increasingly recognized as a new literacy that should be encouraged at a young age. This understanding has recontextualized computer science as a compulsory school subject and has informed several developmentally appropriate approaches to computation, including for preschool children. This study focuses on the introduction of three approaches to computation in preschool (3–6 years), specifically computational thinking, programming, and robotics, from a cross-curricular perspective. This paper presents preliminary findings from one of the case studies currently being developed as part of project KML II—Laboratory of Technologies and Learning of Programming and Robotics for Preschool and Elementary School. The purpose of the KML II project is to characterize how approaches to computation can be integrated into preschool and elementary education, across different knowledge domains. The conclusions point to “expression and communication” as an initial framework for computational approaches in preschool, but also to multidisciplinary and more creative methodological activities that offer greater scope for the development of digital and computational competences, as well as for personal and social development.This research was funded under the project KML II—Laboratory of technologies and learning of programming and robotics for preschool and elementary school, which is co-funded by FEDER through the COMPETE 2020- Operational Thematic Program for Competitiveness and Internationalization (POCI) and national funds through FCT- Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under project reference number PTDC/CED-EDG/28710/2017

MODELOWANIE PROCESU ROZWOJU EDUKACJI WŁĄCZAJĄCEJ NA UKRAINIE

The article presents the results of research on the implementation of the principles of inclusive education in Ukraine, substantiates its relevance in the development of a democratic society and European integration policy. The principles of the state policy in the field of inclusive education, its normative-legal support and international practice of providing educational services to citizens with special needs are described. Advanced experience of inclusion introduction in the educational process of preschool, general secondary, vocational and higher education institutions is analyzed. Official statistics on the total number of people with disabilities in Ukraine; availability of special secondary education institutions (boarding schools) and their contingent; the number of children with disabilities in preschool education institutions, students with disabilities in full-time secondary education institutions, persons with disabilities in vocational education institutions, persons with disabilities among students of higher education institutions etc., have been handled. The importance and expediency of the scientific development of the principles of inclusive education, its practical implementation and study  of socio-economic effect are substantiated. Graphic visualization of the correlation between the employed persons with disabilities and persons without disabilities, number of children, pupils, students with special educational needs in education establishments of Ukraine is presented.W artykule przedstawiono wyniki badań nad procesem wdrażania zasad edukacji włączającej na Ukrainie, uzasadniono ich znaczenie w warunkach rozwoju społeczeństwa demokratycznego i europejskiej polityki integracyjnej państwa. Opisano zasady krajowej polityki państwa w zakresie edukacji włączającej, jej wsparcie regulacyjne i prawne oraz międzynarodową praktykę świadczenia usług edukacyjnych obywatelom ze specjalnymi potrzebami. Przeanalizowano najlepsze doświadczenia z wdrażania integracji w procesie edukacyjnym placówek przedszkolnych, ogólnokształcących, zawodowych i wyższych. Opracowano oficjalne dane statystyczne dla Ukrainy dotyczące całkowitej liczby osób niepełnosprawnych; dostępność specjalnych szkół średnich (internatów) i ich zespołów; liczby dzieci niepełnosprawnych w placówkach wychowania przedszkolnego, uczniów niepełnosprawnych w dziennych placówkach ogólnokształcących, osób niepełnosprawnych w placówkach kształcenia zawodowego (zawodowego i technicznego), osób niepełnosprawnych wśród studentów szkół wyższych itp. Uzasadniono wagę i celowość naukowego opracowania zasad edukacji włączającej, jej praktyczne zastosowanie oraz badanie efektu społeczno-ekonomicznego. Zaprezentowano graficzną wizualizację stosunku zatrudnionych osób z niepełnosprawnościami do osób sprawnych, liczby dzieci, uczniów i studentów ze specjalnymi potrzebami edukacyjnymi w instytucjach edukacyjnych Ukrainy

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

Live Coding as a Model for Cultural Practice & Cultural-Epistemological Aspects of Live Coding

This report documents the program and the outcomes of Dagstuhl Seminar 13382 “Collaboration and learning through live coding”. Live coding is improvised interactive programming, typically to create electronic music and other digital media, done live with an audience. Our seminar was motivated by the phenomenon and experience of live coding. Our conviction was that those represent an important and broad, but seldom articulated, set of opportunities for computer science and the arts and humanities. The seminar participants included a broad range of scholars, researchers, and practitioners spanning fields from music theory to software engineering. We held live coding performances, and facilitated discussions on three main perspectives, the humanities, computing education, and software engineering. The main outcome of our seminar was better understanding of the potential of live coding for informing cross-disciplinary scholarship and practice, connecting the arts, cultural studies, and computing. The report is edited by Alan Blackwell and Alex McLean and James Noble and Julian Rohrhuber

Teaching fundamentals of computing theory: a constructivist approach

A Fundamentals of Computing Theory course involves different topics that are core to the Computer Science curricula and whose level of abstraction makes them difficult both to teach and to learn. Such difficulty stems from the complexity of the abstract notions involved and the required mathematical background. Surveys conducted among our students showed that many of them were applying some theoretical concepts mechanically rather than developing significant learning. This paper shows a number of didactic strategies that we introduced in the Fundamentals of Computing Theory curricula to cope with the above problem. The proposed strategies were based on a stronger use of technology and a constructivist approach. The final goal was to promote more significant learning of the course topics.Facultad de Informátic

Special Issue "On Defining Artificial Intelligence"—Commentaries and Author's Response

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Epistemological activators and students' epistemologies in learning modern STEM topics

This dissertation is a collection of studies developed during my Ph.D. program within the Physics Education Research group of the University of Bologna. The entire work is driven by the role of epistemology in science as a means to orient learning and identity construction. Specifically, the study aims (i) to characterize epistemologically the design of teaching modules for High School on two main modern STEM topics: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Quantum Physics (QP), and (ii) to investigate the so-called ‘students’ epistemologies’ in the context of learning QP. In the first part, the use that I do of epistemology involves the individuation of transversal themes, activities, and ideas – that I define ‘epistemological activators’ - that can structure students’ knowledge on a meta-level and foster them to reflect on the nature of disciplines and knowledge in general; this results in the proposal of teaching paths and insights for High School both in the contexts of QP and AI. In the second part, I conduct a qualitative study on students’ epistemologies in learning QP. Previous analysis showed evidence of three specific requirements that students show in learning QP, which I referred to as epistemic needs: the needs of visualization, comparability and ‘reification’. Along with these results, I decided to conduct a study on the nature of the factors that trigger students’ stances towards and acceptance of QP, building on the research literature on personal epistemologies. To this extent, I collected extensive written and recorded data of High School students participating in an introductory course on QP. The analysis mainly highlighted (i) evidence of expectations about the role of ‘visual modeling’ and ‘math’ as two personally reliable means to bridge classical and quantum domains., and (ii) evidence of entanglement between specific students’ epistemologies and their meta-affective stances towards challenges in learning QP