Problem Solving Olympics: an inclusive education model for learning Informatics

International audienceThe paper presents the Olimpiadi di Problem Solving, a mild and inclusive competition aimed to promote computational thinking and general problem-solving in Italian schools. We describe motivation, teaching strategies behind the initiative, as well as its structure, organization and give some sample of the problems proposed to students. We also present some data that show the broad participation of Italian schools to the initiative, and a preliminary analysis of the results obtained by the students in the last 5 editions, which suggests that the competition fosters deep learning of computational thinking knowledge and skills

Identifying Students’ Misconceptions on Basic Algorithmic Concepts Through Flowchart Analysis

In this paper, a flowchart-based approach to identifying secondary school students’ misconceptions (in a broad sense) on basic algorithm concepts is introduced. This approach uses student-generated flowcharts as the units of analysis and examines them against plan composition and construct-based programming problems to identify students’ misconceptions. In this study, 102 flowcharts, generated by 50 students in two informatics classes in the Netherlands, were examined and various sorts of misconceptions were identified. The results suggest that, given their abstract and language-independent nature, flowcharts can be considered as an effective tool for revealing students’ difficulties in understanding algorithmic concepts. Our approach contrasts the more traditional use of program code to investigate students’ misconceptions. We found several misconceptions mentioned in the literature, together with two misconceptions which appear not to have been described before. Our research contributes to the usage of flowcharts as a formative assessment tool, directing informatics teachers’ instruction toward resolving these misconceptions

Informatics in the French Secondary Curricula: Recent Moves and Perspectives

International audienceIn France, since 2010, the situation regarding informatics education in secondary school has changed: Algorithmic was introduced in mathematics curricula at grade 11 and an elective Computer Science course (called ISN) has been introduced at grade 12 (Fall 2012). These changes have encouraged some initiatives for the promotion of informatics education, among them the French 2012-Bebras contest. However, the 'informatics as a tool approach' continues to guide decision makers in education. This context renews the issue of informatics education (including Computer Science) for all students at the different levels of secondary school. We submit some ideas to re-open the debat