The Importance of Context: Assessing the Challenges of K-12 Computing Education Through the Lens of Biggs 3P Model

2021 ◽

pp. 0013189X2110579

Author(s):

Yasmin B. Kafai ◽

Chris Proctor

Keyword(s):

21St Century ◽

Computational Thinking ◽

Creative Expression ◽

Career Readiness ◽

College And Career Readiness ◽

Computing Education ◽

The Past ◽

College And Career ◽

The World ◽

K 12

Over the past decade, initiatives around the world have introduced computing into K–12 education under the umbrella of computational thinking. While initial implementations focused on skills and knowledge for college and career readiness, more recent framings include situated computational thinking (identity, participation, creative expression) and critical computational thinking (political and ethical impacts of computing, justice). This expansion reflects a revaluation of what it means for learners to be computationally-literate in the 21st century. We review the current landscape of K–12 computing education, discuss interactions between different framings of computational thinking, and consider how an encompassing framework of computational literacies clarifies the importance of computing for broader K–12 educational priorities as well as key unresolved issues.

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bASES21: A Model for the Self-assessment of 21st-Century Skills in the Context of Computing Education in K-12

10.1007/978-3-030-86439-2_19 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 366-391

Author(s):

Christiane Gresse von Wangenheim ◽

Leonardo P. Degering ◽

Fernanda Mioto ◽

Lúcia H. Martins-Pacheco ◽

Adriano F. Borgatto ◽

...

Keyword(s):

21St Century ◽

21St Century Skills ◽

The Self ◽

Self Assessment ◽

Computing Education ◽

K 12

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Motivating Teachers to Teach Computing in Middle School â€“ A Case Study of a Physical Computing Taster Workshop for K-12 Teachers

International Journal of Computer Science Education in Schools ◽

10.21585/ijcses.v1i4.17 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 1 (4) ◽

pp. 35-49 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Aldo Von Wangenheim ◽

Christiane Gresse von Wangenheim ◽

Fernando S. Pacheco ◽

Jean C. R. Hauck ◽

Miriam Nathalie F. Ferreira

Keyword(s):

Middle School ◽

Computational Thinking ◽

Outreach Program ◽

School Teachers ◽

Physical Computing ◽

Computing Education ◽

Pedagogical Content ◽

Technical Issues ◽

K 12 ◽

Ongoing Support

Computing education in schools faces several problems, such as a lack of computing teachers and time in an already overloaded curriculum. A solution can be a multidisciplinary approach, integrating the teaching of computing within other subjects, creating the need to motivate teachers from other disciplines to teach computing in middle school. Therefore, the motivation and training of in-service teachers becomes crucial, as they need to have computing content and technological knowledge as well as pedagogical content knowledge. Yet, so far there exist very few training programs. Thus, as part of a comprehensive outreach program, we present a study on a one-day taster workshop for middle school teachers on physical computing education. Participants learn computer programming practice and computational thinking by programming an interactive robot. The workshop also approaches pedagogical aspects for teaching computing and technical issues regarding the installation and preparation of the required hardware/software. Preliminary results of its application with public school teachers in Florianopolis/Brazil are positive, motivating the majority of participants to introduce computing into their classes. However, our results also highlight that in order to enable teacher to apply the workshops effectively, longer training courses and ongoing support is required.

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Computational apprenticeship: Cognitive apprenticeship for the digital era

10.31235/osf.io/jy328 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Hayden Fennell ◽

Joseph A. Lyon ◽

Aasakiran Madamanchi ◽

Alejandra J. Magana

Keyword(s):

Education Research ◽

Computational Thinking ◽

Cognitive Apprenticeship ◽

Learning Theories ◽

Adaptive Expertise ◽

Practice Model ◽

Computing Education ◽

Digital Era ◽

K 12 ◽

Programming Courses

The conceptualization of Computational Thinking as a cross-cutting skill with relevance across disciplines has ushered in wide-ranging efforts to increase computational education in all facets of education. However, the majority of initiatives for integrated computing education have focused on K-12 settings, as has most education research around computational thinking. At the postsecondary level, computing education remains largely siloed within specific programming courses and has not been well-integrated throughout the STEM curriculum. Current instructional approaches often leave students poorly prepared to transfer their computing knowledge to solve new real-world problems. Additionally, there is limited education research into how best to develop computational thinking among postsecondary students. In fact, education research into computational thinking remains undertheorized and is often definitional in nature. Here, we integrate computational thinking with the educational psychology concept of adaptive expertise. Finally, we contextualize computational thinking within constructivist learning theories by introducing computational apprenticeship, an application of cognitive apprenticeship to computing. Computational apprenticeship provides a research and practice model for supporting the development of computational adaptive expertise.

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