Promoting computational thinking with programming

Selby, Cynthia

doi:10.1145/2481449.2481466

Cited by 58 publications

(83 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Many have recently suggested ways of implementing computational thinking into the curriculum (Barr and Stephenson 2011, Webb and Rosson 2013, Brennan and Resnick 2012, Lee et al 2011, Selby 2012, Yadav et al 2011, Van Dyne and Braun 2014, Sengupta et al 2013). In our research we find teachers describe using a variety of activities that develop computational thinking skills in learners.…”

Section: Embedding Computational Thinkingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Computing in the curriculum: Challenges and strategies from a teacher’s perspective

2016

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Computing is being introduced into the curriculum in many countries. Teachers' perspectives enable us to discover what challenges this presents, and also the strategies teachers claim to be using successfully in teaching the subject across primary and secondary education. The study described in this paper was carried out in the UK in 2014 where teachers were preparing for the mandatory inclusion of Computing into the curriculum. A survey was conducted of over 300 teachers who were currently teaching Computing to elicit their perspectives on challenges and strategies. From the analysis of the data, extrinsic and intrinsic challenges were identified for both teachers and students. In addition, a variety of pedagogical strategies were recommended by teachers from their own practice. In categorising approaches taken by teaching to support students five key themes emerged: unplugged type activities, contextualisation of tasks, collaborative learning, developing computational thinking, and scaffolding programming tasks. Further investigation could support whether these strategies can alleviate the challenges of teaching and learning of Computing for students and teachers. In particular developing student resilience in Computing is seen as a challenge while not many strategies are suggested. The results of this study will be useful for teachers who are new to the teaching of Computing.

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Section: Embedding Computational Thinkingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Computing in the curriculum: Challenges and strategies from a teacher’s perspective

2016

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“…If initiated at the primary stage of education, we also call it primary programming. An interesting study on connection of computational thinking and programming can be found in (Selby, 2012). There are many age-appropriate tools and environments that allow us to design meaningful and engaging elementary programming activities while respecting children's developmental stage.…”

Section: Programming As a Component Of School Informaticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Programming in Slovak Primary Schools

KABÁTOVÁ¹,

Kalaš²,

Tomcsányiová³

2016

IOI

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Abstract. In our paper, we want to present the conception of elementary programming in primary Informatics education in Slovakia and the process of its integration into ordinary classrooms. First, we will familiarize the reader with the tradition of so called 'Informatics education' in Slovakia and with the various stages of the process of its integration. We will formulate the learning objectives of the elementary informatics as a school subject in Slovakia (referring to Blaho and Salanci, 2011) and give reasons why we believe that it offers an important opportunity for developing informatics knowledge, computational thinking and problem solving skills. We will primarily focus on the presentation of our arguments why we consider programming (in the form rigorously respecting the age of the primary pupils) to be appropriate and productive constituent of learning already for this age group. Several recent research findings, presented by Ackermann (2012) and others support our position here. In the next chapter, we will present in detail the conception of elementary programming and how it is implemented in the continuing professional development (CPD) of primary teachers in Slovakia. We will examine which programming environments are being used, what kind of pedagogies and which specific learning objectives our teachers apply. We will list programming concepts and identify corresponding cognitive operations, which we find appropriate for primary pupils. Then we will present and analyse the CPD of our in-service teachers (and the position of programming in this process) which we have recently implemented in Slovakia. Another important element of our CPD strategy is the well-known Bebras contest (in Slovakia it is called 'iBobor' or 'Informatics Beaver'). In the next chapter of our paper, we will apply qualitative educational inquiry methods to examine how our conception of elementary programming has really penetrated into primary classes in Slovakia. We are also interested in how it is being received by the teachers and pupils. Through interviews with the teachers we will identify different aspects of the whole process and main risk factors, which may complicate or hinder the implementation. In the final chapter, we will study the tendency to develop informatics and programming at the primary level in the context of various research projects presented in the academic research literature. We will compare various key findings of other research projects with our own experience.

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“…Computational thinking draws on computational practices that have been strengthened in recent years by developments in the field of computer science [2,17]. Key aspects of computational thinking are: 1) view of problems with inputs and computations following a precise algorithm that leads to clear outputs; 2) reformulating a seemingly difficult problem into one or more problems we know how to solve, perhaps by reduction, embedding, transformation, or simulation; 3) thinking recursively; 4) approaching problems using parallel processing; and 5) using abstraction and decomposition when attacking a large complex task or designing a large complex system [15].…”

Section: Computational Thinkingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative paradigms in the examination of software production

Trimble

Keeling

2013

Proceedings of the South African Institute for Computer Scientists and Information Technologists Conference

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Different paradigms are used to study socio-economic dynamics of the software development process. The study seeks to examine the software development process at the project, firm national, and international level. Three paradigms are selected to pursue this examination: 1) dialectical and historical materialism; 2) computational thinking; and 3) system dynamics. This approach of employing multiple paradigms is designed to develop a comprehensive but cohesive presentation of possible software production scenarios.

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Promoting computational thinking with programming

Cited by 58 publications

References 18 publications

Computing in the curriculum: Challenges and strategies from a teacher’s perspective

Computing in the curriculum: Challenges and strategies from a teacher’s perspective

Programming in Slovak Primary Schools

Comparative paradigms in the examination of software production

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