Getting the Picture:Modeling and Simulation in Secondary Computer Science Education

In the Netherlands, Computer Science was introduced in 1998 as an optional subject in the upper grades of HAVO and VWO. Modeling and simulation is included as an elective theme in the recently revised Computer Science curriculum. Modeling and simulation is considered to be an aspect of computational thinking, and computational thinking in turn is an element of digital literacy which is expected to be included — as a new learning objective —in the soon to be revised national curriculum for primary and secondary education.In this dissertation, didactic aspects of teaching modeling and simulation within the Computer Science course were explored, as well as the pedagogical content knowledge of teachers related to teaching modeling and simulation. The results include, among other things, a framework that describes how the problem under investigation is to be translated into computational elements, how to subsequently construct a computer model and use it for simulations, and finally how to interpret the results in the discipline where the problem originates. The findings show that students are able to construct computer models themselves or to adapt existing computer models, to use them to conduct research, and finally to reflect critically on the entire process.Furthermore, this research has resulted in practical insights into teaching of computer modeling, and has led to the development of teaching materials for computer science (https://ieni.github.io/inf2019/themas/r-computational-science) which are suitable for use in other courses such as biology, geography or history as well.The results of this research demonstrate the possibilities of using computer models in education — for example, to simulate the course of a pandemic, analyze the results, and investigate both scientific and societal consequences

Computational Thinking in Context Across Curriculum:Students’ and Teachers’ Perspectives

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Evaluating the New Secondary Informatics Curriculum in The Netherlands:The Teachers’ Perspective

Since the introduction of Informatics as an elective course in secondary education in the Netherlands in 1998, the implemented curriculum is being regularly monitored. The results of the large 2013 secondary Informatics teachers survey contributed to the revision of the Informatics curriculum. This revised curriculum came into effect in 2019. In line with regular curriculum monitoring practices, the Netherlands Institute for Curriculum Development is polling the secondary Informatics teachers to understand their views and opinions on the intended curriculum and to learn about their implemented curriculum The results indicate that the majority of the respondents find the new Informatics curriculum better than the old one and that it offers a solid foundation for their teaching practice. A minority either misses some content in the curriculum or considers it overloaded with content, and some find it not to be up to date. Furthermore, the results of this survey are compared to the results of the 2013 survey to assess to what extent the new Informatics curriculum meets the teachers’ needs and recommendations better.</p

Computational Thinking in Context Across Curriculum: Students’ and Teachers’ Perspectives

Integration of computational thinking (CT) into numerous disciplines across the K-12 curriculum is gaining increased attention. In this study, based on the technology integration framework, we investigated how students’ understandings, difficulties, and attitudes towards learning subject matter varied at different levels of CT integration. We implemented six different case studies by integrating CT into six different subjects: science, traffic, language, biology, geography, and physics. Two primary and four secondary school teachers, 38 primary school students, and 113 secondary school students were involved in the study. We categorized these lessons according to the technology integration model: unplugged activities are grouped as augmentation level; robotic and two modeling activities are labeled as modification level; modeling and digital storytelling activities are labeled as redefinition level. Our findings indicate that students reported a very positive attitude toward redefinition level activities. Teachers stated that compared to standard instructional activities, students can go deeper and understand the subject content better in CT integrated lessons

Assessment of modeling and simulation in secondary computing science education

The introduction of the new computing science curriculum in the Netherlands in 2019 raises the need for new evidence-based teaching materials that include practical assignments and guidelines for their assessment. As a part of our research project on teaching Computational Science (modeling and simulation), we participate in these efforts and developed a curriculum intervention including a practical assignment and an accompanying assessment instrument consisting of grading rubrics based on the SOLO taxonomy. In this research paper we focus on the assessment instrument. We describe its development and report on a pilot study carried out in the secondary computing science course implementing the curriculum intervention. The instrument proved to be reliable and effective in tracing high and low levels of the students' achievements in modeling and simulation projects and exposed the expected differences in performance levels of various groups of students, which renders it useful for both formative and summative assessment. Furthermore, our application of the instrument has provided new insights into the needs of specific groups of students to receive instruction prior to and during the work on the assignments