Attitudes of Pre-service Teachers Toward Computational Thinking in Education

The purpose of the study was to examine the attitudes of pre-service teachers toward computational thinking, before and after an intervention, to convey the importance of integrating computational thinking into K-12 curricula. The two-week, course-embedded intervention introduced pre-service teachers, with varying academic specialties, to computational thinking practices and their utility. The intervention employed the Scratch programming language tool including Scratch flashcards, everyday and interdisciplinary examples of computational thinking, and unplugged activities. The findings indicated that the intervention was an effective new way to convey the value of computational thinking to all sampled pre-service teachers, no matter their academic specialties or GPAs. Further research is recommended to investigate potential increases in pre-service teachers’ own computational thinking skills following from the intervention

Toward Using Games to Teach Fundamental Computer Science Concepts

Video and computer games have become an important area of study in the field of education. Games have been designed to teach mathematics, physics, raise social awareness, teach history and geography, and train soldiers in the military. Recent work has created computer games for teaching computer programming and understanding basic algorithms. We present an investigation where computer games are used to teach two fundamental computer science concepts: boolean expressions and recursion. The games are intended to teach the concepts and not how to implement them in a programming language. For this investigation, two computer games were created. One is designed to teach basic boolean expressions and operators and the other to teach fundamental concepts of recursion. We describe the design and implementation of both games. We evaluate the effectiveness of these games using before and after surveys. The surveys were designed to ascertain basic understanding, attitudes and beliefs regarding the concepts. The boolean game was evaluated with local high school students and students in a college level introductory computer science course. The recursion game was evaluated with students in a college level introductory computer science course. We present the analysis of the collected survey information for both games. This analysis shows a significant positive change in student attitude towards recursion and modest gains in student learning outcomes for both topics

Exploring how integrating art & animation in teaching text-based programming affects high school students\u27 interest in computer science

As oil is the fuel of the industrial society, software is the fuel of our current information society. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there will be more demand for computing jobs in the future. By 2024, more than one million computing jobs will be available. Statistics show that there is more demand for computing jobs than there is a supply of qualified graduates from universities. In this experimental study, three groups of high school students were targeted to explore how integrating art, animation, and code sharing into programming affects their interest in pursuing a degree in computer science (CS) after graduation. Moreover, the study also explored the effect of social factors and attitudes of the students toward programming and a CS degree. Pretest-posttest survey questionnaires were used to measure the study variables before and after taking a programming course. A new web-based learning environment was developed and used as a treatment in this study. The developed tool included the use of art, animation, and code sharing to increase students\u27 motivation in learning computer programming. Three groups of students from Ann Arbor public and private schools participated in this study with different coding time. The demographic data were also collected and analyzed in this study. The field of CS is currently dominated by White and Asian males. This study also aimed to encourage and increase the motivation of female and underrepresented racial groups towards CS. The results of this study showed that the use of art, animation, and code sharing increased students\u27 knowledge, enjoyment, and motivation in learning computer programming. It thereby increased their interest in pursuing a degree in CS after graduation