Towards democratizing computer science education through social game design

A difficult challenge to computer science education is the systemic professional development of teachers. K-12 computer science education models limited to voluntary in-service teacher professional development may not reach a critical majority of teachers who are skeptical towards information technology, computer science, programming and computational thinking. The inclusion of computer science in a national K-12 education standard in Switzerland has made it possible to move beyond voluntary K-12 computer science education for in-service teachers to mandatory pre-service teacher education for all elementary teachers. This chapter describes the vision of the Digital Polymath as a digitally enabled person empowered by computational thinking to connect computer science with other disciplines. The course design, combining game design activities, computational thinking tools and the 7 big ideas from the computer science principles framework is outlined and experiences are reported.

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Information Uses and Learning Outcomes During Guided Discovery in a Blended E-Learning Game Design Program for Secondary Computer Science Education

Proceedings of the 50th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (2017) ◽

10.24251/hicss.2017.252 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Rebecca Reynolds ◽

Christopher Leeder

Keyword(s):

Science Education ◽

Computer Science ◽

Learning Outcomes ◽

Game Design ◽

Computer Science Education ◽

Guided Discovery ◽

Design Program ◽

Learning Game ◽

E Learning

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Mobile Games in Computer Science Education: Current State and Proposal of a Mobile Game Design that Incorporates Physical Activity

Research on e-Learning and ICT in Education ◽

10.1007/978-3-319-95059-4_15 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 243-255 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ioannis Siakavaras ◽

Marina Papastergiou ◽

Nikos Comoutos

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Science Education ◽

Computer Science ◽

Game Design ◽

Computer Science Education ◽

Mobile Games ◽

Mobile Game ◽

Current State

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Preparing Teachers to Engage Rural Students in Computational Thinking Through Robotics, Game Design, and Culturally Responsive Teaching

Journal of Teacher Education ◽

10.1177/0022487117732317 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 69 (4) ◽

pp. 386-407 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Jacqueline Leonard ◽

Monica Mitchell ◽

Joy Barnes-Johnson ◽

Adrienne Unertl ◽

Jill Outka-Hill ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Science Education ◽

Computer Science ◽

Culturally Responsive Teaching ◽

Game Design ◽

Culturally Responsive ◽

Computer Science Education ◽

Computational Thinking ◽

Responsive Teaching ◽

Gain Scores ◽

Treatment Groups

This article examines teacher preparation and teacher change in engineering and computer science education. We examined culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy (CRTSE), culturally responsive teaching outcome expectancy (CRTOE) beliefs, and attitudes toward computational thinking (CT) as teachers participated in one of three treatment groups: robotics only, game design only, or blended robotics/game design. Descriptive data revealed that CRTSE gain scores were higher in the robotics only and blended contexts than in the game design only context. However, CRTOE beliefs were consistent across all treatment groups. In regard to CT attitudes, teachers’ gain scores were higher in the game design only and blended contexts than in the robotics only context. In addition, there were differences by treatment group related to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) practices, while cultural artifacts were evident in each learning environment. The results of this study reveal some variability by treatment type and inform future research on equitable practices in engineering and computer science education.

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