Performance in and perceptions of computational thinking (CT) are considered vital dimensions for comprehensively assessing CT skills of students. In this study, secondary school students’ CT performance and their perceptions were examined in terms of certain variables including gender, grade level, achievement and self‐efficacy. Casual‐comparative and correlational methods were used. The sample of the study consisted of a total of 328 fifth‐ and sixth‐grade (10–12 years old) secondary school students taking visual programming lessons. CT performance and perception tests were employed as data collection tools. The results show that CT performance of boys was higher than that of girls. A significant difference was found in both CT performance and perception depending on grades. The results show that achievement in math positively affected CT performance and perception. However, achievement in IT affected CT performance less than achievement in math. Implications are discussed in terms of theoretical insights, practices for improving CT skills in secondary schools and directions for further research. What is already known about this topic Due to the complex structure of computational thinking (CT) in association with computers, cognition, learning and psychology, CT skills should be evaluated from a variety of perspectives. CT performance and perception are considered vital dimensions for comprehensively assessing students’ CT skills. What this paper adds This paper proposes a CT performance test and a CT perception scale for secondary school students to explore their skills in terms of certain variables including gender, grade level and achievements in math and information technology (IT) courses. This paper provides some evidence that CT performance of boys is better than that of girls. A significant difference was found in both CT performance and perception depending on grades. The results of the study show that math course achievement positively affected CT performance and perception. However, IT course achievement affected CT performance less than math course achievement. Implications for practice and/or policy CT performance is affected by different variables. Therefore, it may be beneficial to include specific topics in the curriculum that involve the use of more CT skills. Girls’ interest and participation in practices such as programming can be encouraged. Teachers should provide students with cognitive scaffolding to help them and to have them collaborate with each other during CT activities, especially at higher grades. IT course content should include systematic and comprehensive CT activities to improve students’ CT skills. We suggest developing and implementing a holistic curriculum combined with IT and math lessons to improve students’ CT performance.
Readiness is important for the success of the e-learning process. The purpose of this study was twofold: to develop a scale to measure K–12 teachers’ e-learning readiness, and to examine their readiness to teach online. The participants were 3,295 K–12 teachers working in Izmir, Turkey. First EFA, then CFA-SEM was performed. Additionally, teachers’ e-readiness in terms of gender, years of service, school level, and daily device usage time were examined. Teachers are ready for e-learning considering their overall scores. A significant difference was found in favor of males in the “technical competence” factor and in favor of females in the “colleague, content, and pedagogical and ethical competence factors”. The readiness of younger teachers is generally higher. On a factor basis, there is only a significant difference in the factors of computer self-efficacy and student readiness according to educational level. As the use of devices increases, technology-related readiness increases. The readiness of teachers plays an important role in determining future strategies, measures, and interventions that need to be taken to advance e-learning.
The pair programming approach is used to overcome the difficulties of the programming process in education environments. In this study, the interaction sequences during the paired programming of preservice teachers was investigated. Lag sequential analysis were used to explore students’ behavioral patterns in pair programming. The participants of the study consist of 14 students, seven pairs enrolled in a Programming Languages course. The findings indicate that there are significant behavioral learning sequences. During the program development process, students hesitated to create an algorithm and to improve an existing one while proposing the next step. In addition, they constantly waited for approval. Collaborative behaviors such as giving and receiving feedback and helping other partners were less observed in females. In addition, significant sequential driver and navigator behaviors were presented. The findings of the study have important implications for instructors and designers when using a pair programming approach in teaching programming. In the future, programming instruction environments can be designed by considering the learner behaviors that are presented in this study.
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