Efficiently Prompting Students When Developing Computational Thinking Skills

2022 ◽  
pp. 91-115
Author(s):  
Soumela K. Atmatzidou ◽  
Chrysanthi N. Βekiari ◽  
Stavros N. Demetriadis

This study investigates the impact of student response modality on the development of computational thinking skills in educational robotics activities. Students of an elementary school were divided into three study groups ('Control', 'Selecting', and 'Writing') that implemented activities based on the same teacher guidance while prompted to provide responses of different modalities. The purpose was to engage students in the development of computational thinking skills, focusing on the basic skills of abstraction, generalization, algorithm, modularity, and debugging. These skills were evaluated at different phases during the activity, using different modality (selection, written, and oral) assessment tools. The results suggest that (1) prompting and eliciting thoughts in the form of written or selected answers proves to be a beneficial strategy, and (2) the two groups, ‘Writing' and ‘Selecting', reach the same level of CT skills, which is significantly higher than the level of the control group.

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (S3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wahyudin Wahyudin ◽  
Amellya Mustikaningtyas Rishanty ◽  
Muhammad Nursalman ◽  
Shah Nazir ◽  
Lala Septem Riza

Technical facilities are an element that can support educational and learning activities, especially for professional students in the fields of technology and information. Computational thinking is also one of the supportive skills that every student must have. This is consistent with the preliminary research conducted by the researchers. The teacher said that when students learned basic programming materials, they found it difficult and slowed down because of the limited media they used and the non-optimal methods. This research is aimed to determine the effect of unplugged media based on team assisted individualization on the computational thinking skills of vocational high school students in basic programming subjects. The method used in this research is Quasi-experiment using pretest and posttest control group design. The results of the survey are as follows. 1) Learning media was declared available by media professionals at a rate of 94.23%, including the "very good" category. (2) The designed learning media can improve students' mathematical thinking skills with an average profit value of 0.49, and the standard of effectiveness is "medium". (3) Student response to the use of learning media shows a 97.87% percentage value in the "Very Good" category.


Informatics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiazzese ◽  
Arrigo ◽  
Chifari ◽  
Lonati ◽  
Tosto

Research has shown that educational robotics can be an effective tool to increase students’ acquisition of knowledge in the subjects of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and promote, at the same time, a progression in the development of computational thinking (CT) skills in K–12 (kindergarten to 12th grade) education. Within this research field, the present study first sought to assess the effect of a robotics laboratory on the acquisition of CT-related skills in primary school children. The study also aimed to compare the magnitude of the effect of the laboratory across third- and fourth-grade students. For the purpose of the study, a quasi-experimental post-test-only design was adopted, and a group of 51 students, from third- and fourth-grade classrooms, participating in the robotics laboratories, were compared to a control group of 32 students from classrooms of the same grades. A set of Bebras tasks was selected as an overall measure of CT skills and was administered to children in both the intervention and control groups. Overall, the results showed that programming robotics artefacts may exert a positive impact on students’ learning of computational thinking skills. Moreover, the effect of the intervention was found to be greater among third-grade children.


Author(s):  
Avraam Chatzopoulos ◽  
Michail Kalogiannakis ◽  
Michail Papoutsidakis ◽  
Sarantos Psycharis ◽  
Dimitrios Papachristos

In this chapter, the authors present their research on how P12 students apply computational thinking (CT) skills when they are assigned simple science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) problems, which they are called upon to solve with the help of educational robotics (ER) activities. The reason for this research was the high participation and increased interest shown in an ER event, where distributed questionnaires recorded students' views on ER, STEM, and CT. Their answers were the spark to conduct a pilot study on primary school students in the form of an experiential seminar to investigate the possibility of developing their CT skills by applying ER activities when they are asked to solve authentic STEM problems. The results showed that students may develop CT skills when involved in ER activities and that educational robots enhance students' engagement with programming and create a more favorable environment for developing students' CT skills.


2021 ◽  
pp. 073563312110351
Author(s):  
Lihui Sun ◽  
Linlin Hu ◽  
Danhua Zhou

In this work, we studied the influence of different programming approaches on the development of students’ computational thinking (CT) skills, the programming experience and gender differences in CT development were also discussed. A total of 158 junior high school students and one teacher participated in the study over 5 months. The sample students were divided into four experimental groups in four single or combined programming approaches (i.e., plugged-in, unplugged, unplugged first, and plugged-in first) and one control group without programming. Data sources included the results of four CT tests, as well as interviews with the teacher and surveys with 24 representative participants. The results showed that the four programming approaches can effectively improve students’ CT skills and can be retained after two months. Among them, the form of implementing unplugged activities before plugged-in can most effectively improve CT skills, and can better weaken the impact of previous programming experience. Finally, the qualitative analysis results provided insights into the process of programming and CT education. These findings will provide implications for the introduction of CT in junior high school, and help expand students’ participation in computing.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-46
Author(s):  
Dadang Iskandar ◽  
Deasy Rahmawati ◽  
Acep Roni Hamdani

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the application of Value Clarification Technique (VCT) to ecoliteracy and critical thinking skills of elementary school students in learning Social Science. The method used in this study is a quasi experimental design with non-equivalent control group design, using the two study groups. Subjects in this study were students of class IVSDN Cijerah Indah, Bandung Kulon District Bandung City. The experimental group was given the treatment of learning Value Clarification Technique (VCT) and the control group was given conventional learning. The results showed that in general there is a difference between learners ecoliteracy experimental class and control class and critical thinking skills among learners experimental class and control class after each class has been getting treatment that has been set.


2018 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 01060
Author(s):  
Sibel Demir Kaçan ◽  
Fatma Şahin

The research aims to determine “the Impact of Scientific Creative Thinking Skills on Scientific Process Skills”. Thus, the research was performed with 24 teacher candidates in the control group and 24 teacher candidates in the experimental group in the second class of the Department of Science Teaching in a university in Istanbul Province. In the experimental group of the research, the laboratory program to be designed by the researchers on the basis of scientific discussion and research; and in the control group, the conventionally designed laboratory program were applied for an academic semester. The research data was gained through “Scientific Creativity Test” to be developed by Hu and Adey [14] and adapted by Kadayıfçı [16]; “Scientific Process Skills Test” to be developed by Okey, Wise and Burns, and adapted by Geban, Aşkar and Özkan into Turkish. The conclusions to be reached by the research are in favour of the experimental group and the last application, and it has positive impact on the opinions of the teacher candidates related with the development of the scientific creativity skills.


2012 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Arsić ◽  
Vesna Vučić ◽  
Jasna Tepšić ◽  
Sanja Mazić ◽  
Marina Djelić ◽  
...  

The impact of chronic, intense exercise, such as in elite athletes, on phospholipids fatty acids (FA) composition has not been studied in women so far. This study aimed to investigate FA profiles in plasma and erythrocytes phospholipids in elite female water polo (N = 15) and football (N = 19) players in comparison with sedentary women. In spite of similar dietary patterns, as assessed by a food frequency questionnaire, plasma FA profile in the football players showed significantly higher proportions of stearic acid, oleic acid, and monounsaturated FA (MUFA), and significantly lower proportions of total and n-6 polyunsaturated FA (PUFA) than in the water polo and control group. The water polo players had higher percentages of palmitoleic acid and arachidonic acid than the control subjects. Erythrocyte FA profile differed among groups. We found significantly higher proportion of oleic acid and MUFA in the football group than in the controls, and decreased stearic acid and elevated palmitic and palmitoleic acid in the water polo players than in the other 2 groups. Both groups of athletes had significantly lower percentages of n-6 dihomo-γ-linolenic acid, n-6 PUFA, and total PUFA compared with the controls. The estimated activities of elongase and desaturases in erythrocytes were also altered in the athletes. Our results indicate that long-term, intense physical training significantly affects FA status of plasma and erythrocyte phospholipids in women. The observed differences between the water polo and the football players suggest that the type of regular training may contribute to the altered metabolism of FA, although possible genetic differences among the 3 study groups cannot be ruled out.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolaas P. Pronk ◽  
A. Lauren Crain ◽  
Jeffrey J. VanWormer ◽  
Brian C. Martinson ◽  
Jackie L. Boucher ◽  
...  

Objective.To determine the accuracy of self-reported body weight prior to and following a weight loss intervention including daily self-weighing among obese employees.Methods.As part of a 6-month randomized controlled trial including a no-treatment control group, an intervention group received a series of coaching calls, daily self-weighing, and interactive telemonitoring. The primary outcome variable was the absolute discrepancy between self-reported and measured body weight at baseline and at 6 months. We used general linear mixed model regression to estimate changes and differences between study groups over time.Results.At baseline, study participants underreported their weight by an average of 2.06 (se=0.33) lbs. The intervention group self-reported a smaller absolute body weight discrepancy at followup than the control group.Conclusions.The discrepancy between self-reported and measured body weight appears to be relatively small, may be improved through daily self-monitoring using immediate-feedback telehealth technology, and negligibly impacts change in body weight.


Author(s):  
Amy Eguchi

President Obama's initiative, “computer science for all,” has been a rallying slogan for promoting computer science in K-12 education. Although the participation of people of color in computer science (CS) has increased in the past several years, it is still drastically low and does not reflect the real picture of our society. This chapter explores how educational robotics as a learning tool can inspire underrepresented minorities including females and students of color to become interested in CS. Supported by Papert's constructionism theory, educational robotics effectively facilitates students' learning of various concepts in CS and STEM. Educational robotics is a learning tool which inspires students' interest in learning. It provides a learning environment that promotes students' learning of various CS concepts and computational thinking skills. Although robots naturally spark students' interests, to make it most effective, teachers are required effortfully to create learning opportunities that are authentic and meaningful for individual students.


2022 ◽  
pp. 756-781
Author(s):  
Amy Eguchi

President Obama's initiative, “computer science for all,” has been a rallying slogan for promoting computer science in K-12 education. Although the participation of people of color in computer science (CS) has increased in the past several years, it is still drastically low and does not reflect the real picture of our society. This chapter explores how educational robotics as a learning tool can inspire underrepresented minorities including females and students of color to become interested in CS. Supported by Papert's constructionism theory, educational robotics effectively facilitates students' learning of various concepts in CS and STEM. Educational robotics is a learning tool which inspires students' interest in learning. It provides a learning environment that promotes students' learning of various CS concepts and computational thinking skills. Although robots naturally spark students' interests, to make it most effective, teachers are required effortfully to create learning opportunities that are authentic and meaningful for individual students.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document