A Study of the Readiness of Implementing Computational Thinking in Compulsory Education in Taiwan

Programming is fundamental to the development of computational thinking, one of the essential skills for the 21st century. Tangible programming can be a powerful ally of this process from an early age, especially if it supports STEM tasks areas and inclusion. These are the pillars of the TangIn project, under which four qualitative case studies were developed with the aim of to evaluate the lesson plans designed within the scope of the project and the potential of its implementation for the development of the mentioned dimensions. The statistical and content analysis which the questionnaires applied to 43 teachers from Portugal, Spain, Bulgaria, and Latvia were submitted to conclude that students were always very committed and motivated during activities and developed specific and transversal skills related to STEM, including the ability to program and value colleagues, what contributed to its inclusion, regardless of sex and socio-economic conditions.

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Computational thinking in compulsory education: Towards an agenda for research and practice

Education and Information Technologies ◽

10.1007/s10639-015-9412-6 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 20 (4) ◽

pp. 715-728 ◽

Cited By ~ 118

Author(s):

Joke Voogt ◽

Petra Fisser ◽

Jon Good ◽

Punya Mishra ◽

Aman Yadav

Keyword(s):

Computational Thinking ◽

Compulsory Education ◽

Research And Practice

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Integración de Pensamiento Computacional en Educación Básica. Dos Experiencias Pedagógicas de Aprendizaje Colaborativo online

Revista de Educación a Distancia (RED) ◽

10.6018/red.409481 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (63) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Xabier Basogain Olabe ◽

María Elena Olmedo Parco

Keyword(s):

Latin American ◽

Collaborative Work ◽

Computational Thinking ◽

Compulsory Education ◽

Educational Technologies ◽

Educational Institutions ◽

Traditional Classrooms ◽

Programming Environments ◽

Entornos Virtuales De Aprendizaje ◽

Working World

Los países del mundo han incluido en sus agendas educativas la incorporación del Pensamiento Computacional (PC) en la Educación Básica. A pesar de los esfuerzos de las autoridades escolares, los sistemas escolares tienen dificultades en desarrollar esta propuesta en las aulas tradicionales. En este artículo presentamos dos experiencias basadas en el uso de tecnologías y metodologías educativas que han ayudado a superar estas dificultades, logrando llevar el PC al aula de forma eficaz para los estudiantes, profesorado y centros escolares. Las experiencias se han desarrollado en colaboración con instituciones educativas y ministerios de educación de dos países de Latinoamérica. Las tecnologías educativas utilizadas son los entornos virtuales de aprendizaje (EVA), los sistemas de colaboración síncronos, y los entornos de programación online Scratch/Snap. Las metodologías educativas desarrolladas se basan en el trabajo colaborativo profesorado-tutores, profesorado-estudiantes, y estudiantes-estudiantes. Ambas, tecnologías y metodologías educativas, se han utilizado de forma conjunta para desarrollar a través del PC la capacidad de nuestros estudiantes para resolver problemas relacionados con la vida diaria y con el mundo laboral. Countries in the world have included in their educational agendas the incorporation of Computational Thinking (CT) in Compulsory Education. Despite the efforts of the school authorities, the school systems have difficulties in developing this proposal in the traditional classrooms. In this article we present two experiences based on the use of educational technologies and methodologies that have helped overcome these difficulties by bringing the PC to the Classroom effectively for students, teachers and schools. Experiences have been developed in collaboration with educational institutions and ministries of education in two Latin American countries. The educational technologies used are virtual learning environments (VLE), synchronous collaboration systems, and Scratch / Snap online programming environments. The educational methodologies developed are based on collaborative work teachers-tutors, teachers-students, and students-students. Both educational technologies and methodologies have been used together to develop, through the PC, the ability of our students to solve problems related to daily life and the working world.

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Assessing K-9 Teachers' Computational Thinking Skills

10.4018/978-1-6684-2411-7.ch023 ◽

2022 ◽

pp. 467-487

Author(s):

LeChen Zhang ◽

Jalal Nouri

Keyword(s):

Computational Thinking ◽

Compulsory Education ◽

Principal Component ◽

Thinking Skills ◽

Expert Review ◽

Competence Training ◽

Expert Review Panel ◽

Ct Test ◽

Teacher Ability ◽

The Relationship

Many national curricula have incorporated computational thinking (CT) into compulsory education. Teacher ability to deliver the revised curriculum determines whether these new skills can be successfully integrated into teaching. Therefore, it is crucial to examine teacher readiness. This study measured Swedish K-9 teacher CT skills through a CT test validated by an expert review panel and a principal component analysis. Additionally, we engaged statistical analyses to examine the relationship between the teachers' background and their CT test scores, as well as their self-reported ability to teach CT. The result demonstrated the teachers' proficiency in different types of CT skills. Another finding revealed that the type of programming language mastered by teachers was associated with both their CT test score and self-reported ability to teach CT. This CT test can support teachers to identify specific areas for professional development and may facilitate the school management to plan teachers' competence training strategically.

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Assessing K-9 Teachers' Computational Thinking Skills

Advances in Educational Technologies and Instructional Design - Handbook of Research on Integrating Computer Science and Computational Thinking in K-12 Education ◽

10.4018/978-1-7998-1479-5.ch008 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 124-144

Author(s):

LeChen Zhang ◽

Jalal Nouri

Keyword(s):

Computational Thinking ◽

Compulsory Education ◽

Principal Component ◽

Thinking Skills ◽

Expert Review ◽

Competence Training ◽

Expert Review Panel ◽

Ct Test ◽

Teacher Ability ◽

The Relationship

Many national curricula have incorporated computational thinking (CT) into compulsory education. Teacher ability to deliver the revised curriculum determines whether these new skills can be successfully integrated into teaching. Therefore, it is crucial to examine teacher readiness. This study measured Swedish K-9 teacher CT skills through a CT test validated by an expert review panel and a principal component analysis. Additionally, we engaged statistical analyses to examine the relationship between the teachers' background and their CT test scores, as well as their self-reported ability to teach CT. The result demonstrated the teachers' proficiency in different types of CT skills. Another finding revealed that the type of programming language mastered by teachers was associated with both their CT test score and self-reported ability to teach CT. This CT test can support teachers to identify specific areas for professional development and may facilitate the school management to plan teachers' competence training strategically.

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The Missing Link to Computational Thinking

Future Internet ◽

10.3390/fi11120263 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (12) ◽

pp. 263 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Michael Pollak ◽

Martin Ebner

Keyword(s):

Scientific Literature ◽

International Adoption ◽

Computational Thinking ◽

Compulsory Education ◽

Future Research ◽

Educational Setting ◽

Current State ◽

Strong Focus ◽

Blank Spot ◽

Number Of Authors

After a lengthy debate within the scientific community about what constitutes the problem solving approach of computational thinking (CT), the focus shifted to enable the integration of CT within compulsory education. This publication strives to focus the discussion and enable future research in an educational setting with a strong focus on the Austrian circumstances and the goal to allow wide international adoption later on. Methodically, a literature review was conducted to gain knowledge about the current strands of research and a meta study to show the diversity of proposed and materialized studies. Three main questions were answered, establishing that CT as an idea is rooted in scientific literature dating back to the 1980s and grew in popularity after Wing introduced the concept to a broader audience. A number of authors contributed to the current state of the field, with the most cited review coming from Grover and Pea. The challenge to integrate CT in curricula around the world was met by many experiments and case studies but without a conclusive framework as of yet. Ultimately, this paper determines that expert integration is a blank spot in the literature and aims to create a strong, inclusive path to CT education by inviting practitioners.

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