Constructing Computational Thinking Without Using Computers

International audiencePaper type: application.Background(s):computer science; educational research.Approach:Our approach is very practical: we are focusedon pedagogy and improved classroom practices –what Matthews (1997:8) calls “pedagogical constructivism.”Moreover, we discuss the relationships between our work and Papert’s constructionism.Context: The meaning and implications of “computational thinking” (CT) are only now starting to be clarified, and the applications of the Computer Science (CS) Unplugged approach are becoming clearer as research is appearing. Now is a good time to consider how these relate, and what the opportunities and issues are for teachers using this approach.Problem: The goal here is to connect computational thinking explicitly to the CS Unplugged pedagogical approach, and to identify the context where Unplugged can be used effectively. Method: We take a theoretical approach, selecting a representative sample of CS Unplugged activities and mapping them to CT concepts. Results: The CS Unplugged activities map well onto commonly accepted CT concepts, although caution must be taken not to regard CS Unplugged as being a complete approach to CT education. Implications: There is evidence that CS Unplugged activities have a useful role to help students and teachers engage with CT, and to support hands-on activities with digital devices.Constructivist content: A constructivist approach to teaching computer science concepts can be particularly valuable at present because the public (and many teachers who are likely to have to become engaged with the subject) do not see CS as something they are likely to understand. Providing a clear way for anyone to construct this knowledge for themselves gives an opportunity to empower them when it might otherwise have been regarded as a domain that is open to only a select few

Programming unplugged : insights from theoretical models and teacher experiences.

Unplugged approaches to teaching Computational Thinking (CT), which are based on activities that do not require the use of a digital device or programming, are widely used in computing education. Evidence from the literature and practice indicates that this approach can be used successfully, although views on the value of Unplugged computing have been varied. Recently it was found that rather than comparing Unplugged with other approaches, combining Unplugged with teaching programming enabled students to achieve the same level of programming competence, but with higher self-efficacy, and a larger vocabulary in the programming language compared to a similar time span spent on programming alone. Despite this improved understanding of how to use Unplugged activities, there is little understanding of why they are effective and what ways they can be combined with plugged-in exercises effectively in a programming classroom and for teachers’ professional development (PD). In this thesis we use practical observations viewed through the lenses of theories of learning to understand why the Unplugged approach is effective. Computational Thinking in school curricula is about teaching students to understand how to use computation to solve problems, to create, and to discover new questions that can fruitfully be explored in other disciplines and professions as well as Computer Science. Teachers need to be able to effectively communicate the ideas of Computational Thinking to students and apply these within the context of their classroom. Our initial studies with teachers indicated that understanding the nature of the commonly identi- fied difficulties and confusion caused by computer jargon among teachers is important for finding ways for effective classroom delivery. We found that the concerns from teach- ers finding computer jargon difficult can be because the computational context in which they are applied makes them difficult for teachers to understand, rather than not knowing their meanings in the first place, and appropriate support can enable teachers to learn the techniques and skills that the terminology refers to. Using Unplugged material in teachers’ professional development, we tried to understand how they perceive the utility of Unplugged, particularly in introductory programming and understanding the jargon. Findings indicate that alternating Unplugged content in introductory programming does not hinder the teachers’ teaching efficacy and self-efficacy towards computer programming, yet teachers can be equipped with more content within the same time frame as a conventional teaching approach. Another lens that we use to understand how Unplugged and programming relate is the Notional Machine (NM), an abstract model of a computer created by teachers to facilitate learners’ understanding. It represents something they can (mentally) interact with to draw learners’ attention to hidden aspects of computing, is implicit in all programming teaching methods, and is a key to successful programming. We explore how Unplugged activities seem to have a close connection with Notional Machine, and therefore use the lens of Notional Machine to understand the relationship between Un- plugged and programming. Reviewing the existing Unplugged activities through this lens, we can understand where Unplugged has been successful in teaching programming and why. We also identify the possible gaps in Unplugged activities that need addressing for it to be further successful as a programming education tool. Accordingly, in our professional development experimental studies we developed and trialled new Unplugged activities focusing on modeling basic programming concepts, and studied their usefulness in alternating with conventional programming teaching practices. The usefulness of Unplugged activities in introductory programming was then considered through the lens of Semantic Waves, a concept that describes an ideal learning journey of a novice learner over a course of learning while shifting between expert and novice understanding, abstract and concrete context, and technical and simple meanings. Studying the behavior of the Semantic Waves of Unplugged activities we saw how, heuristically, the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) can be seen as a differentiation of a semantic profile of an Unplugged activity, essentially shifting learners back and forth between existing and new knowledge, while learning a programming concept. The Semantic Waves of Unplugged activities used to model programming concepts were analysed and compared with a plugged-in only lessons that taught the same concepts to show how alternating Unplugged activities with plugged-in experience successfully covers a wider semantic range, indicating the possibility of avoiding both learner anxiety as well as boredom, and enabling teachers to find better teaching strategies that suit their classrooms. Semantic profiles show the balance between what learners know and what they should know about what is actually happening, and the use of Unplugged activities supports the flow needed for creating effective semantic profiles, particularly in programming classrooms

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 to design activities for learning computational thinking in the context of early primary school in an after-school code club

Abstract. Computational Thinking (CT) and its related concepts have gained a lot of traction within the field of education. Many countries, including Finland and the United Kingdom, are in the process of integrating CT into their national curriculums to equip pupils with much needed 21st century digital skills, including coding (programming). As a result, several programs and activities are being developed to introduce pupils to CT. The need to develop appropriate teaching and learning materials, as well as train teachers to teach, and integrate computational thinking into their lessons is apparent. This thesis seeks to contribute to the body of knowledge on computational thinking by designing and testing instructional materials for early primary school. Computational thinking as a concept, how to integrate its concepts into coding, as well as how pupils understood the concept were explored. This study was conducted in an after-school coding club at an elementary school in the northern part of Finland. The duration for the coding club was 8 weeks. Each lesson lasted for 45 minutes. Participants were selected from among 1st and 2nd grade pupils. In selecting participants for this study, priority was given to pupils with no prior coding experience. 13 out of the selected 17 had no prior experience. The remaining 4 participants were randomly selected from the rest of the applicants who had coding experience. Worksheets and stickers were designed and tested for teaching and learning computational thinking. Lesson plans designed for the coding club included activities for teaching computational thinking using unplugged activities and Scratchjr. The unplugged activities were integrated into coding lessons to enhance the understanding of pupils during the coding lessons. This approach helped to connect theoretical computational thinking to real life practices and its application in the context of coding. Data collected included the unplugged activity worksheets of the participants, their Scratchjr projects, and self-efficacy beliefs regarding their ability to code and think computationally. These work products were evaluated qualitatively for evidence of understanding. The analysis of the self-efficacy beliefs of participants revealed that participants were confident of their computational thinking and coding abilities. The main outcome of this research is the instructional material (stickers, templates, and Scratchjr activities) which was designed for teaching and learning purposes. This unique experiment and pedagogical designs are explained to show how unplugged activities can be used to introduce pupils to computational thinking concepts

Authors’ Response: Keeping the “Computation” in “Computational Thinking” Through Unplugged Activities

International audienceThe commentaries provide useful questions and responses that help us understand better how unplugged activities serve as scaffolding to engage students in computer science. They help us to consider how activities relate to computational thinking, particularly by connecting the scaffolding in the activities to the limits of computation. This in turn helps us to navigate the somewhat disputed boundary between activities that clearly use computation as it occurs on physical devices, and metaphors that could potentially be misleading

Teaching fundamental computer science concepts utilizing manipulatives

This thesis presents innovative pedagogical approaches to teach fundamental Computer Science (CS) concepts, such as abstraction, representation, algorithms, and computation utilizing manipulatives, which are physical objects that students interact with to teach or reinforce a concept. Teaching and learning with manipulatives has a long history in science and mathematics education, but the development of and research on manipulatives to teach CS concepts is less common. Through observational field notes from a 6th-grade classroom and an interview with the teacher, this thesis discusses the affordances and drawbacks of the different approaches and manipulatives. We found that utilizing manipulatives led to increased student engagement and participation with the material, along with making teaching the material more exciting and engaging for the teacher. In addition, we found that manipulatives provided a way for student misunderstandings and errors to be more apparent through tinkering with the physical objects, along with the teacher being able to connect and further enforce multiple CS concepts through activities. However, we also observed drawbacks when implementing different manipulatives, specifically the algorithmic scaffolding restricted the ability for an algorithm to be created and designed in unique a way by a student, which could lead to less algorithmic creativity and freedom.Keywords: Computer Science, Manipulatives, Abstraction, Algorithms, Representation, Computation, Computer Science Educatio

Assessing Adaptive Learning Styles in Computer Science Through a Virtual World

abstract: Programming is quickly becoming as ubiquitous and essential a skill as general mathematics. However, many elementary and high school students are still not aware of what the computer science field entails. To make matters worse, students who are introduced to computer science are frequently being fed only part of what it is about rather than its entire construction. Consequently, they feel out of their depth when they approach college. Research has discovered that by teaching computer science and programming through a problem-driven approach and focusing on a combination of syntax and computational thinking, students can be prepared when entering higher levels of computer science education. This thesis describes the design, development, and early user testing of a theory-based virtual world for computer science instruction called System Dot. System Dot was designed to visually manifest programming instructions into interactable objects, giving players a way to see coding as tangible entities rather than text on a white screen. In order for System Dot to convey the true nature of computer science, a custom predictive recursive descent parser was embedded in the program to validate any user-generated solutions to pre-defined logical platforming puzzles. Steps were taken to adapt the virtual world to player behavior by creating a system to detect their learning style playing the game. Through a dynamic Bayesian network, System Dot aims to classify a player’s learning style based on the Felder-Sylverman Learning Style Model (FSLSM). Testers played through the first half of System Dot, which was enough to test out the Bayesian network and initial learning style classification. This classification was then compared to the assessment by Felder’s Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire (ILSQ). Lastly, this thesis will also discuss ways to use the results from the user testing to implement a personalized feedback system for the virtual world in the future and what has been learned through the learning style method.Dissertation/ThesisMasters Thesis Computer Science 201

A Study on the Effect of Non-Traditional Demographic Populations in an Undergraduate Computer Science Course

There is a significant amount of research analyzing the effect of race, gender, and other common demographical data on student interest and performance in computer science. However, there is relatively little research concerning less common demographic populations, such as introverts, artistic students, and visual learners. This study investigates if these less traditional demographic data affect student performance or interest in computer science and what effect delaying coding in introductory courses may have on these populations. We taught three sections of an introductory computer science course (one which delayed coding by half a term) and compared student performance and interest with non-traditional demographic data. We find relatively little correlation between student grades and their demographic data, but this study supports the idea that the delayed programming affects student interest