Computer science in K-12 school curricula of the 2lst century: Why, what and when?

Abstract

In this paper we have examined the position and roles of Computer Science in curricula in the light of recent calls for curriculum change and we have proposed principles and issues to consider in curriculum design as well as identifying priority areas for further research. The paper is based on discussions within and beyond the International Federation of Information Processing (IFIP) Education Community since 2012 as well as an analysis of curriculum developments in five different countries. Emerging themes have been discussed with reference to important perspectives from curriculum theory including Bpowerful knowledge^as a key element of entitlement and management of the growth of expertise. Based on this analysis we have identified areas of consensus as well as constraints, risks and issues that are still subject to controversy. There is an emerging consensus of the importance of Computer Science and the nature of its Bpowerful knowledge^. Furthermore current understanding of the opportunities and benefits for starting to learn Computer Science early in primary schools has Educ Inf Technol (2017) 22:445-468 DOI 10.1007/s10639-016-9493-

Computer Science in the School Curriculum: Issues and Challenges

“…In summary the arguments outlined here present a strong case for the importance of Computer Science in the curriculum for 21st-century learning. Its importance for individual learners, in particular, leads to our recommendation that learning Computer Science is an entitlement for all school students and recent curriculum development takes this approach [14].…”

“…Therefore, in spite of the limited empirical evidence on which to base curricular design, many Computer Science curricula exist and many countries have recently re-designed Computer Science curricula. An analysis of developments in five countries as well as a review and content analysis of curriculum reports [14] suggested key issues to consider when designing Computer Science curricula. First there is a consensus across various curriculum reports [2,3,17] about the key concepts and techniques of the discipline.…”

“…Furthermore an emerging consensus regarding the best starting age for Computer Science being young, about five to seven years old, came from a comparison of curriculum development in three out of the five countries examined: Poland, UK, Australia. The importance of a young age for starting to learn Computer Science was also an outcome from the panel discussion at IFIP TC3 Conference in Vilnius, 2015 [14]. The availability of programming environments and other software designed to support younger learners in learning programming was identified as one of the key factors that have supported this early development of Computer Science learning [18].…”

“…The availability of programming environments and other software designed to support younger learners in learning programming was identified as one of the key factors that have supported this early development of Computer Science learning [18]. Arguments for starting Computer Science at an early age include: 1) learning programming is difficult but a consensus is emerging that learning some of the techniques, approaches and thinking involved in programming at a younger age enables more students to become successful in programming and 2) developing student self-efficacy in programming and Computer Science at an earlier age may reduce the gender gap [14,18].…”

A Coding Curriculum for K-12 Education: The Evidence-Based Approach

“…The examples above illustrate, on the one hand, the lack of consensus on the definition of computational thinking [8] and, on the other hand, the difficulty of proposing concrete contents which respect teachers' freedom to suit to their specific school context. Experts recommend that the computing curricula should provide clear examples [9], being this the main contribution of this paper. The current work stems from an extensive on-field experience of four years of computational activities with a huge variety of 30 schools and more than 1000 students, figures significantly larger than those in the state of the art [10].…”