Promoting Python Code Clubs in Greece: A Teacher Training Program and a Case Study

Abstract

We present the design, implementation and evaluation of a training programme for Computer Science teachers on the educational use of the Python programming language inside and outside school. The programme used pre-existing educational resources centered on meaningful, self-contained programming projects. The training programme followed a blended-learning approach thus offering an opportunity to many computer science teachers make their first steps towards the educational use of the Python language within a very promising learner-centered pedagogical framework. After the initial training phase, the participating teachers were supported to establish and run local Python code clubs. The paper presents the experience from establishing, running and evaluating one of them, established at Chania, Crete by three of the authors. The evaluation clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of the code club approach to learning to code in a manner that is engaging, fun and meaningful for the students and opens up new creative opportunities for them.