In computer science education at school, computational thinking has been an emerging topic over the last decade. Even though, computational thinking is interpreted and integrated in classrooms in different ways, an identification process about what computational thinking is about has been in progress among computer science schoolteachers and computer science education researchers since Wing's initial paper on the characteristics of computational thinking. On the other hand, the constructionist learning theory by Papert, based on constructivism and Piaget, has a long tradition in computer science education for describing the students' learning process by hands-on activities. Our contribution, in this paper, is to present a new mapping tool which can be used to review classroom activities in terms of both computational thinking and constructionist learning. For the tool, we have reused existing definitions of computer science concepts and computational thinking concepts and combined these with our new constructionism matrix. The matrix's most notable feature is its scale of learners' autonomy. This scale represents the degree of choices learners have at each stage of development of their artefact. To develop the scale definitions, we trialed the mapping tool, coding twenty-one popular international computing activities for pupils aged 5 to 11 (K-5). From our trial, we have shown that we can use the mapping tool, with a moderate to high degree of reliability across coders, to analyse classroom activities with regard to computational thinking and constructionism, however, further validation is needed to establish its usefulness. Despite a small number of activities (n = 21) being analysed with our mapping tool, our preliminary results showed several interesting findings. Firstly, that learner autonomy was low for defining the problem and developing their own design. Secondly that the activity type (such as lesson plan rather than online activity) or artefact created (such as physical artefact rather than onscreen activity or unplugged activity), rather than the computational thinking or computer science concept being taught was related to learner autonomy. This provides some tentative evidence, which may seem obvious, that the learning context rather than the learning content is related to degree of constructionism of an activity and that computational thinking per se may not be related to constructionism. However, further work is needed on a larger number of activities to verify and validate this suggestion.
The COVID‐19 pandemic has resulted in the ubiquity of health‐related information, disseminated using digital technology. However, recent research suggests that this accessibility of (often negative) information can induce adverse psychological effects, including anxiety, panic‐based hoarding, and other unhealthy behaviors. Some of these consequences have been explained with the idea of an information overload. Considering these current developments, it may become harder to effectively communicate COVID‐19‐related information in smaller, local contexts, such as universities. By analyzing the page views and searches on the website of a university of education in Germany, we derive recommendations for the delivery of information of local organizations. One conclusion is that the need for information during the pandemic decreases as time passes (at least at the local level of institutions such as universities), and even new emergencies such as the beginning of the second wave of COVID‐19 only affect this behavioral pattern to a minor extent. As a result of this COVID‐19 information fatigue, strategies to keep members of institutions informed are discussed. In addition, we suggest developing a mobile app for delivering individualized information right on hand using machine learning and natural language processing strategies. In sum, individual organizations interested in keeping their members informed concerning COVID‐19 should consider the use of personalized information strategies that avoid inducing negative emotional states. Moreover, potentials for connecting people using digital technology could be harnessed in local organizations.
Over the last two decades, computational thinking (CT) has gained importance in discussions about competencies that students require to deal with complex problems in a world shaped by digitalization. Therefore, schools and teachers should integrate CT into their instructional practices. Particularly, the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) subjects are seen as a meaningful context for embedding CT. Yet, there are only a few professional development programs that address STEM teachers and how to integrate CT. Thus, in our study, we redesigned an in‐service teacher training program. The redesigned program was offered in a blended‐learning format, consisting of alternating digital and face‐to‐face phases. As part of the digital phases, an interactive online self‐learning module on CT was introduced to foster transdisciplinary competencies in the field of STEM to solve complex problems. To identify the perceptions and development of the participants of the training program and the online module on CT a within‐subject design was used with a questionnaire survey, conducted with a pre‐post‐follow‐up design. The first results of the ongoing survey indicate high satisfaction with both the program itself and the online CT module. At the beginning of the program, about two‐thirds of the participating teachers were completely unfamiliar with the term CT, nevertheless, interest in the new topic was high. It was shown the program was able to create initial awareness of the meaning and importance of CT. In addition, teachers who have engaged with CT during the intervention seem to use CT‐related practices more often in the classroom afterward.
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