Design & Technology and Computer Science in the CAMAU Project: the Genesis of Learning Progression in the New Curriculum for Wales

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Development of Computational Thinking in Brazilian Schools with Social and Economic Vulnerability: How to Teach Computer Science Without Machines

Computational Thinking (CT) has been placing the focus of educational innovation as a set of troubleshooting skills. Unfortunately, there is not a consensus if the teaching methodology and the available materials attend the expectations of the lecturers. To prove the impact that CT training has in primary school, we attempted to evaluate primary school students with a Quasi-Experimental approach and taking Unplugged CT classes in Brazilian Schools with Social and Economic Vulnerabilities. The research happened in two schools to prove if the activities are effective for students who live in areas where there are no electronic devices, Internet or even electrical power can be also benefited. The results show statistically significant improvement. Our study finds shows that we are able to reinforce the claim that CS unplugged is an effective approach and it is an alternative for students who live in unprivileged areas

PENSAMENTO COMPUTACIONAL DESPLUGADO: ENSINO E AVALIAÇÃO NA EDUCAÇÃO PRIMÁRIA BRASILEIRA

O Pensamento Computacional (PC) surge como um novo eixo educacional a nível global. Nas escolas Brasileiras, ele é considerado um conjunto de habilidades e conhecimentos para auxiliar os alunos na solução de problemas. No entanto, não há consenso sobre a metodologia de ensino e a disponibilidade de material que atenda às expectativas dos professores. Para averiguar a eficácia de intervenções de Pensamento Computacional Desplugado, foi realizado em 2017 um estudo com alunos da educação primária, utilizando abordagem Quase-Experimental em aulas de PC Desplugado em duas escolas brasileiras, usando materiais escolares de uso comum. O emprego de tais materiais permitiu que crianças em escolas/regiões onde não há internet, dispositivos eletrônicos ou até mesmo rede elétrica conseguissem se beneficiar da técnica. Os resultados evidenciaram relevância estatística comprovando desta forma melhoria significativa no desempenho do Grupo de Intervenção que participou de atividades de Pensamento Computacional Desplugado (PCD)

Pensamento Computacional Desplugado: Ensino e Avaliação na Educação Primária Espanhola

O Pensamento Computacional (PC) vem gerando um novo foco educacional nas escolas mundiais como um conjunto de conhecimentos e habilidades para a solução de problemas. Entretanto, não há um consenso de metodologia de ensino e disponibilidade de material para atender às expectativas dos professores. Para verificar a eficácia de aulas de Pensamento Computacional Desplugado, foi realizada uma avaliação de estudantes da educação primária espanhola com uma abordagem Quase-Experimental no intuito de beneficiar crianças em regiões/escolas onde não há dispositivos eletrônicos, Internet e até mesmo energia elétrica. Os resultados apresentaram relevância estatística comprovando melhoria significativa no desempenho dos estudantes que tiveram atividades de PC Desplugado

Interesse, conhecimento e autoconfiança de futuros professores e professores em serviço no uso de robótica educacional em atividades de aprendizagem

This paper presents a study that aims to analyze the interest, knowledge, problem-solving skills, and self-confidence of the pre-service and in-service teachers in using educational robotics for teaching purposes, in particular, to teach programming and computational thinking in primary and secondary education. In the portuguese context, it is mandatory to attend a masters in teaching in order to become a teacher in primary and secondary education. These pre-service teacher training programs are organized in several dimensions, such as specific didactics, general education, scientific area. Computational Thinking, programming, and robotics have been integrated into the schools’ curriculum in many countries. Accordingly, it is essential to analyze the teachers’ preparation to teach these thematic trends. A descriptive and exploratory quantitative approach was implemented with 49 participants. The results pointed out a positive level of interest, educational robotics knowledge, problem-solving, self-confidence of both pre-service and in-service teachers.Este artículo informa sobre los resultados de un estudio em el cual se perseguía analizar los niveles de interés, conocimiento, resolución de problemas y autoeficacia, de los docentes en la formación inicial y los docentes en la práctica, en el uso de la robótica para enseñar programación y pensamiento computacional en la educación básica y secundaria. En Portugal, para ser profesor es necesario cursar un master en enseñanza. Este curso de capacitación inicial está organizado en varias dimensiones, tales como didáctica específica, educación general, formación en el área de enseñanza e iniciación en la práctica profesional. Los temas relacionados con el pensamiento computacional, la programación y la robótica se han integrado en los planes de estudio escolares en varios países. Por lo tanto, es importante analizar la preparación de los profesores para enseñar estos temas. La investigación adoptó un enfoque cuantitativo de naturaleza descriptiva y exploratoria con 49 participantes, docentes em formación inicial y docentes em servicio . Los resultados mostraron niveles positivos de interés, conocimiento, resolución de problemas y autoeficacia en ambos grupos..Este artigo reporta os resultados de um estudo que procurou analisar os níveis de interesse, conhecimento, resolução de problemas e autoeficácia, dos professores em formação inicial e professores em exercício, na utilização de robótica educativa para ensinar programação e pensamento computacional na educação básica e secundária. Em Portugal, para ser professor é necessário a frequência de um mestrado em ensino. Este curso de formação inicial organiza-se em várias dimensões de formação, como sejam, didáticas específicas, educação geral, formação na área de docência e iniciação à prática profissional. As temáticas ligadas ao Pensamento Computacional, à programação e à robótica vêm sendo integradas nos currículos escolares em vários países. Assim, é importante analisar a preparação dos professores para ensinar estas temáticas. A investigação assumiu uma abordagem quantitativa de carácter descritivo e exploratório e envolveu 49 participantes, professores em formação inicial e professores em serviço. Os resultados evidenciaram níveis positivos de interesse, conhecimento, resolução de problemas e autoeficácia em ambos os grupos.

Desarrollo de entorno online de programación para computación natural

Máster en Investigación e Innovación en Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones (i2- TIC).This work proposes a natural computer programming (for CA and NEPs) environment platform using Blockly. The platform is a web-based tool that provides simulators for two well-known natural computing systems: Cellular Automata (CA) and Network of Evolutionary Processors (NEPs). CA programming blocks presented in this work provide the ability to design and implement several types of CA including Elementary cellular automata, 2D cellular automata, and nD cellular automata. The tool also provides a graphical representation of CA’s grid through projection for any CA that has 3 or more dimensions. A NEPs Blockly programming environment is presented in this work. It provides the ability to design and simulate NEPs. Blocks are used as flexible user interface to enter NEPs specifications. The blocks automatically generate a standard XML configurations code which can be sent to the server side of the simulator for implementation. The tool also provides a graphical representation for the static topology of the system. Both CA and NEPs Blockly programming environments have been tested in several rather academic examples. The work presents an online simulation platform for natural computing algorithm using visual programing tool, namely Blockly. The proposed platform provides software engineering tools for setting up algorithms and also ease of use especially for teaching of these algorithm. The software engineering tools has been implemented on the NEPs as there is much more software tools already presented for cellular automata. The software designed for NEPs are a set of blocks to implement several types of connections between nodes. These blocks reduce time and complexity in setting up NEPs with fully connected nodes, for instance. In the other hand, cellular automata algorithm has been chosen to test the ease of the process of teaching and learning natural computing algorithms as they are much better-known model. The test has been conducted with students, teachers and researchers. Results of the experiment showed that the CA Blockly simulator outperforms traditional manual methods of implementing CA. It also showed that the proposed environment has desired features such as ease of use and decreases learning time. The NEPs part of the system has been tested against several applications. It showed that it provides a flexible designing tool for NEPs. It outperforms traditional XML coding methods in terms of ease of use and designing time. In addition we have designed specific high level constructs that automatize in some way the specific of complex NEPs’ topologies by hand. They could be considered as embryonic software engineering tools to program NEPs. Our tool is considered a generic platform for web-based implementation. It has desired features and wide range of properties that could attract the scientific community to adapt and develop in the future

Κατηγοριοποίηση και περιληπτικές αποδόσεις εργασιών συνεδρίων της ACM SIGCSE

Η παρούσα εργασία αφορά στη μελέτη εργασιών οι οποίες παρουσιάστηκαν στο συνέδριο ACM SIGCSE τις χρονιές 2016, 2017 και 2018. Αρχικά, γίνεται μια κατηγοριοποίηση, με βάση τον κύριο τομέα της Εκπαίδευσης της Πληροφορικής τον οποίο αφορά η κάθε εργασία που παρουσιάστηκε στα προαναφερθέντα συνέδρια. Οι κατηγορίες στις οποίες κατατάχθηκαν τα άρθρα είναι οι εξής: • Αξιολόγηση σπουδαστών • Ασφάλεια και προστασία της ιδιωτικής ζωής • Διαδραστικά περιβάλλοντα μάθησης • Διαφορετικότητα των φύλων/ Πολυπολιτισμικότητα • Εκπαίδευση της Μηχανικής Λογισμικού • Εισαγωγή στην Πληροφορική • Εκπαίδευση της Πληροφορικής • Ενσωμάτωση Πληροφορίας • Ηλεκτρονική μάθηση • Οπτικοποίηση • Πρότυπα αναλυτικά προγράμματα • Πρωτοβάθμια και Δευτεροβάθμια Εκπαίδευση • Συνεργατική Μάθηση • Συστήματα διαχείρισης μάθησης • Υπολογιστική Σκέψη • Υπολογιστικός Αλφαβητισμός Στη συνέχεια, δίνονται περιληπτικές αποδόσεις των εργασιών της χρονιάς 2017 που εμπίπτουν στις παρακάτω επιλεγμένες κατηγορίες: • Αξιολόγηση φοιτητών/μαθητών • Εισαγωγή στην Πληροφορική • Εκπαίδευση της Πληροφορικής • Πρωτοβάθμια και Δευτεροβάθμια Εκπαίδευση • Συνεργατική Μάθηση • Υπολογιστική ΣκέψηThis thesis focuses on the study of papers presented at the ACM SIGCSE conference in the years 2016, 2017 and 2018. Initially, a categorization is defined, based on the main areas of IT education that are included in the aforementioned conferences. The categories in which the articles were classified are: • Student evaluation • Security and Privacy • Interactive learning environments • Gender Diversity / Multiculturalism • Software engineering education • CS1 • Computer Science Education • Integration of Information • E-learning • Visualization • Model curricula • K-12 • Collaborative learning • Computational Thinking • Computing Literacy Afterwards, reviews of the papers of the year 2017 are presented concerning the following categories: • Student evaluation • CS1 • Computer Science Education • K-12 • Collaborative learning • Computational Thinkin

How Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Design and Facilitation of a Maker Faire Activity Contributes to Differences in Children’s Learning

Science education is changing. With the release of the Next Generation Science Standards [NGSS], K-12 teachers are expected to engage students in the practices of scientists and engineers to make sense of disciplinary core ideas and crosscutting concepts (NGSS Lead States, 2013). Simultaneously, there is a push to expose students to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in an integrated manner (Honey, Pearson & Schweingruber, 2014). The Maker Movement is one initiative that has received attention for its potential to transform STEM learning (Vossoughi & Bevan, 2014). This movement has spurred the creation of educative making as a pedagogical approach to engage students in integrated STEM learning experiences while still meeting the NGSS’ performance expectations (Bevan, 2017). Currently, scant research exists on how to prepare teachers to facilitate these types of learning experiences in ways that result in rich learning experiences, especially at the preservice level. This study aims to close that gap.I investigated how the design and facilitation of two science activities at a Maker Faire impacted opportunities for children’s learning. The activities were designed and facilitated by preservice elementary school teachers enrolled in a university Science Methods course as part of their requirements to earn a Multiple Subjects (Elementary School) Teaching Credential and Master of Education in Teaching degree (M.Ed.). Preservice teachers worked in small groups to design and facilitate their NGSS-aligned activity as the culminating assignment for their Science Methods course. The primary audience for the event was elementary school students enrolled in the preservice teachers’ student-teaching classrooms. Using a case study model, I focused on two preservice teachers who worked in different groups, Ms. Sarah and Ms. Maggie. Ms. Sarah and her group members’ station featured a slime making activity for children to learn about different states of matter. Ms. Maggie and her group members’ station provided opportunities for children to tinker with various materials to develop models of magnetism. Using previous frameworks (e.g., Bevan, Ryoo, Vanderwerff, Wilkinson & Petrich, 2017), I analyzed the design of activity, facilitation, and resulting indicators of children’s learning through detailed video analysis (Erickson, 2006). The slime station was designed to resemble a factory line, requiring all children to work through the same set of pre-defined steps to create the teacher’s anticipated version of slime. This resulted in Ms. Sarah and her group members emphasizing procedures, providing more direct instruction and asking more close-ended questions. This, in turn, caused children to frequently ask questions to ensure they were following the correct procedures specified by the teachers. In contrast, the magnetism station featured a series of smaller activities, differentiated to allow for multiple pathways based on each child. Ms. Maggie and her group members asked more open-ended questions, used less direct instruction, encouraged risk-taking and experimentation, engaged with observations more often, and frequently changed their instruction based on children’s ideas. This resulted in children demonstrating higher instances of conceptual understanding than was observed at the slime station. Moreover, children who visited the magnetism station showed significantly more indicators of learning than children who visited the slime station, t(22) = 2.5, p = .019. Implications for educators and teacher educators are shared in the discussion, as well as future directions for research

CAMAU Project: Research Report (April 2018)

‘Learning about Progression’ is a suite of research-based resources designed to provide evidence to support the building of learning progression frameworks in Wales. ‘Learning about Progression’ seeks to deepen our understanding of current thinking about progression and to explore different purposes that progression frameworks can serve to improve children and young people’s learning. These resources include consideration of how this evidence relates to current developments in Wales and derives a series of principles to serve as touchstones to make sure that, as practices begin to develop, they stay true to the original aspirations of A Curriculum for Wales – A Curriculum for Life. It also derives, from the review of evidence, a number of fundamental questions for all those involved in the development of progression frameworks to engage