<p dir="ltr">This dissertation includes three manuscripts that explore the construct of teacher-readiness for integration of computational thinking (CT) skills in their teaching. The first manuscript is a retrospective observational study that builds a binomial regression model to predict teachers’ competence in CT procedural skills using factors such as number of professional development trainings taken, time since last training, subject taught, educational background, teaching experience, and whether they currently teach CT. This study provides insights for professional development providers to better design CT trainings. Some of these insights are then incorporated in the second study which is a design case of an online gamified professional development for K-12 teachers. The second paper provides design precedents for professional development providers of CT for better CT integration in K-12 education. The third study is a phenomenological multiple case study that investigates teachers’ CT self-efficacy, autonomous motivation, and goal relevance beliefs towards CT. It captures teachers’ understanding of what CT is and what its value is to the subjects that they teach. Together, the three studies holistically understand teacher readiness for integration of CT through teachers’ own perspective and provide key insights into how they can be better prepared for this change.</p>

In this thesis, I discuss how the undergraduate computer scientist is trained, and how they learn what I am calling computational intuition. Computational intuition describes the methodology in which computer scientists approach their problems and solve them through the use of computers. Computational intuition is a series of skills and a way of thinking or approaching problems that students learn throughout their education. The main way that computational intuition is taught to students is through the experience they gain as they work on homework and classwork problems. To develop computational intuition, students learn explicit knowledge and techniques as well as knowledge that is tacit and harder to teach within the lectures of a classroom environment. Computational intuition includes concepts that professors and students discuss which include “computer science intuition,” “computational thinking,” general problem solving skills or heuristics, and trained judgement. This way of learning is often social, and I draw on the pedagogy of cognitive apprenticeship to understand the interactions between the professors, tutors, and other students help learners gain an understanding of the “computer science intuition.” It is this method of thinking that computer scientists at the Claremont Colleges have stated as being one of the most essential items that should be taught and gained throughout their education and signals a wider understanding of computer science as a field.

This diploma thesis deals with the development of computational and algorithmic thinking in a non-formal education setting, specifically in the conditions of a summer camp activity, which is one of the forms of non-formal education. The thesis verifies by the pedagogical experiment whether it is possible to develop the computational thinking of camp participants, when unplugged activities are included in the programme content. The theoretical part defines the concepts of computational and algorithmic thinking. It also includes property of unplugged methodology. The practical part evaluates the pedagogical field experiment for which 3 sets of unplugged activities and 2 sets of test tools were created. The experiment took place during two summer camp for children from 9 to 18 years old, who were divided into two age groups for testing purposes. In pursuance of the experiment it was found out that the conditions of summer camp activity allow the inclusion of unplugged activities, which represent a method enabling the development of the computational thinking of the camp participants. Though it emerged that these activities have a bearing only on the participants who are more active during these activities and who are more interested in them. KEYWORDS unplugged activities, computational thinking,...

La créativité est considérée comme une compétence cruciale pour le monde contemporain. La recherche décrite dans cette thèse a eu comme contexte principal le projet MC Squared. Réalisé entre octobre 2013 et septembre 2016. L'objectif du projet était de développer une plate-forme numérique pour le développement de C-books destinés à l'enseignement des mathématiques de manière à développer la pensée mathématique créative chez les étudiants et les auteurs. Cette thèse propose une analyse de la conception, du développement, de la mise en oeuvre et du test des activités numériques et non numériques dans le but d'améliorer et d'encourager la pensée mathématique créative ayant des fonctions et des algorithmes comme objets mathématiques à analyser. Les questions de recherche suivantes ont été soulevées à partir du problème: -Comment opérationnaliser et réviser les définitions existantes de la pensée mathématique créative? -Quels sont les composants nécessaires d'une situation ou d'un artefact permettant un processus de pensée mathématique créative? -Comment pouvons-nous évaluer l'avancement d'un processus impliquant la pensée mathématique créative?-Le modèle "Diamant de la créativité" est-il un outil d'analyse utile pour cartographier le cheminement du processus créatif? Pour répondre à ces questions, la recherche a suivi une méthodologie basée sur une recherche agile basée sur le design. Quatre activités ont été développées de manière cyclique. Le premier, appelé Function Hero, est un jeu numérique qui utilise les mouvements du corps du joueur pour évaluer la capacité de reconnaissance des fonctions. Trois autres activités appelées Binary Code, Fake Binary Code et Op'Art, visant au développement de la pensée computationnelle. Le modèle principal de cette thèse est le modèle "Diamond de créativité" pour cartographier le processus de résolution des problèmes rencontrés dans chaque activité, en évaluant le processus et les produits dérivés du travail des étudiants.Pour valider les hypothèses de recherche, nous avons collecté des données pour chaque activité et les avons analysées quantitativement et qualitativement. Les résultats montrent que les activités développées ont éveillé et engagé les étudiants dans la résolution de problèmes et que le modèle "Diamond of Creativity" peut aider à identifier et à identifier des points spécifiques du processus de création / Creativity is considered as a crucial skill for the contemporary world. The research described in this thesis had the Project MC Squared as the main context. Carried out between October 2013 and September 2016. The objective of the project was to develop a digital platform for the development of C-books for teaching mathematics in a way that develops Creative Mathematical Thinking both in the students and the authors. This thesis, entitled: Didactic Situations for the Development of Creative Mathematical Thinking proposes an analysis of the design, development, implementation, and testing of digital and non-digital activities with the aim of improving and fostering Creative Mathematical Thinking having Functions and Algorithms as mathematical objects to analyze. The following research questions raised from the problem: • How to operationalize and revise existing definitions of Creative Mathematical Thinking? • How can we assess the progress of a process involving Creative Mathematical Thinking? • How the "Diamond of Creativity" model is an useful analytic tool to map the Creative Process path? To answer such questions, the research followed a methodology based on an agile Design-Based Research. Four activities were cyclically developed. The first one, called: "Function Hero," is a digital game that uses body movements of the player to evaluate recognizability of functions. Three other activities called "Binary Code," "FakeBinary Code" and "Op’Art", aimed at the development of Computational Thinking. The main constructs of this thesis are: (a) the "Diamond of Creativity" model to map the process of solving problems found in each activity, evaluating the process and the products derived from the students’ work. (b) The digital game: "Function Hero". To validate the research hypotheses, we collected data from each activity and analyzed them quantitatively and qualitatively. The results show that developed activities have awakened and engaged students into problem-solving and that the "Diamond of Creativity" model can help in identifying and labeling specific points in the creative process

Submitted by Verena Pereira (verenagoncalves@uefs.br) on 2018-07-13T21:40:59Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_Mestrado___Bianca_Santana_VF.pdf: 15500523 bytes, checksum: c68a13df2b7edb9a38dcd4a535b47768 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-13T21:40:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_Mestrado___Bianca_Santana_VF.pdf: 15500523 bytes, checksum: c68a13df2b7edb9a38dcd4a535b47768 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-04-06 / Funda??o de Amparo ? Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia - FAPEB / The proposed approach combines the use of the Scratch environment in a context of game creation, the Python programming language associated with the turtle graphics library, and image manipulation with the Jython Environment for Students (JES). We conducted two exploratory case studies with Civil Engineering students attending a CS1 course at our institution to analyze the impact of this approach on student motivation and learning. Our results describe the motivation present during the course in terms of the Attention, Relevance, Confidence and Satisfaction (ARCS) model, and identify the practical factors that may contribute to increase or decrease student motivation. We also present a framework that shows the positive and negative impacts of the elements of our approach on each of the categories of the ARCS model. Various such elements are common in several teaching-learning situations. From a learning point of view, our findings also show that contextualized and spiral learning has enhanced the learning of concepts such as loops and functions. Scratch facilitates the learning of programming logic, select and repeat structures. Python with Turtle enhances learning of these same concepts with the addition of functions. Finally, the media computation approach has shown potential for learning the concepts of functions and arrays. We believe that the practical factors presented in this work can support the design of CS1 courses for non-majors / Estudantes que n?o s?o da ?rea de TI, chamados non-majors , usualmente apresentam falta de interesse e maiores dificuldades na aprendizagem de programa??o em rela??o a estudantes de cursos como Ci?ncia da Computa??o. Neste trabalho descrevemos a concep??o, aplica??o e avalia??o de uma abordagem de ensino-aprendizagem de Programa??o, destinada a estudantes non-majors , cujo intuito ? aumentar a sua motiva??o e amenizar as suas dificuldades em aprender programa??o. A abordagem proposta combina o uso do ambiente l?dico Scratch em um contexto de cria??o de jogos, a linguagem de Programa??o Python associada ? biblioteca TurtleGraphics e ? manipula??o de imagens por meio do ambiente de desenvolvimento JythonEnvironment for Students (JES) . Realizamos dois estudos de caso explorat?rios com estudantes de Engenharia Civil cursando uma disciplina introdut?ria de programa??o em nossa institui??o para analisar o impacto desta abordagem sobre a motiva??o e aprendizagem dos estudantes. Nossos resultados descrevem a motiva??o presente durante o curso em termos do modelo Aten??o, Relev?ncia, Confian?a e Satisfa??o (ARCS), e identificam os fatores pr?ticos que podem contribuir para aumentar ou diminuir a motiva??o dos estudantes. Geramos um quadro que evidencia os impactos positivos e negativos dos elementos de nossa abordagem sobre cada uma das categorias do modelo ARCS, sendo que muitos destes elementos s?o comuns em diversas situa??es de ensino-aprendizagem. Do ponto de vista da aprendizagem, nossos achados demonstram que o ensino contextualizado e em espiral potencializou a aprendizagem de conceitos como loops e fun??es. Scratch potencializa a aprendizagem de l?gica de programa??o, loops e estruturas de sele??o. J? Python com Turtlepotencializa a aprendizagem destes mesmos conceitos com a adi??o de fun??es. Finalmente, a abordagem com m?dias demonstrou potencial para a aprendizagem dos conceitos de fun??es, vetores e matrizes. Acreditamos que os fatores pr?ticos apresentados nesse trabalho podem apoiar o design de disciplinas introdut?rias de programa??o para non-majors

Title: Computer Science Education at Grammar Schools Author: Daniel Lessner Department: Department of Software and Computer Science Education Supervisor: RNDr. Tomáš Holan, Ph.D., Department of Software and Computer Science Education Abstract: Computer science is not a required component of general education in Czechia. The lack of published local experience impedes the search for general agreement in basic questions, such as: Is computer science in general education possible? Is it beneficial? What educational goals should it have, what topics should it cover? The goal of this thesis is to offer empirically verified answers to these questions, considering grammar school level (students 15-18 years old) in Czechia. A set of fundamental ideas of computer science has been identified and used to develop an introductory course. The course was repeatedly tested, evaluated and improved, following the design-based research methodology. The level of students' achieve- ments as well as their own view of the novel approach to teach "informatics" was tracked. Contrary to the widely held belief (in Czechia), it turned out that computer science in general secondary education is possible and beneficial for the students, as long as the level of difficulty and specific goals are chosen appro- priately. The course is...

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2016-07-01T12:12:19Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) dissertacao_mestrado_RozelmaSoaresDeFranca_CInUFPE2015(versao_final_distribuicao).pdf: 4955180 bytes, checksum: d4c08402b3329ed936063f31299a39ee (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-01T12:12:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) dissertacao_mestrado_RozelmaSoaresDeFranca_CInUFPE2015(versao_final_distribuicao).pdf: 4955180 bytes, checksum: d4c08402b3329ed936063f31299a39ee (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-23 / CAPEs / Cada vez mais é necessário criar cenários de aprendizagem que oportunizem a promoção do pensamento computacional na educação básica, uma vez que tal habilidade pode promover a capacidade de resolução de problemas, além de apoiar e relacionar-se com outras ciências. Atrelado a isto, há a necessidade de engajar os aprendizes em atividades de reflexão durante sua formação em conceitos fundamentais da Computação. Sob a ótica da aprendizagem autorregulada, a reflexão, especificamente a autorreflexão, desempenha um papel primordial no processo de aprendizagem, permitindo que os estudantes avaliem o próprio conhecimento na tentativa de identificar as causas dos seus próprios erros e acertos acadêmicos. Os aprendizes podem realizar essas atividades de reflexão e avaliação da aprendizagem individualmente e em colaboração com seus pares. Neste cenário, um modelo colaborativo, intitulado penC, foi concebido para introduzir práticas de autorregulação no contexto do ensino e da aprendizagem do pensamento computacional no ensino médio. O penC foi construído a partir de um estudo exploratório e avaliado por professores, especialistas em áreas contempladas no modelo. Tal avaliação evidenciou fatores que possivelmente contribuem para a autorregulação e a aprendizagem do pensamento computacional, bem como aqueles que requerem melhorias. Ainda, trouxe implicações para o design de uma ferramenta que implementa o penC. A partir de tais resultados, o modelo foi refinado, implementado e avaliado, por meio de um quasi-experimento, durante um curso de desenvolvimento de jogos digitais que introduziu conceitos de lógica de programação em iniciantes na área. Os resultados obtidos com o estudo experimental evidenciam a contribuição da proposta na formação dos estudantes, tendo impacto positivo sobre a autorregulação e a aprendizagem do pensamento computacional repercutindo, ainda, na jogabilidade de games produzidos durante a formação dos participantes em conceitos introdutórios de programação. Adicionalmente, o professor avaliou positivamente a experiência com o uso do modelo proposto e relatou a percepção de resultados positivos sobre a formação de seus estudantes. / There is an increasing need to create learning environments that enable the promotion of computational thinking in basic education, once this ability can promote the skill of solving problems, besides supporting and relating to other sciences. Linked to this, there is the need to engage learners in reflection activities during their education on fundamental concepts of computer science. From the perspective of self-regulated learning, reflection - especially self-reflection - plays an essential role in the learning process, allowing students to assess their own knowledge as an attempt to identify the causes of their own mistakes and academic achievements. Learners can perform such activities of reflection and evaluation of learning individually and in collaboration with their peers. In this scenario, a collaborative model called penC is designed to introduce self-regulation practices in the context of teaching and learning of computational thinking in high school. The penC was built from an exploratory study and evaluated by teachers, experts in areas included in the model. Such evaluation highlighted factors that possibly contribute to the self-regulation and learning of computational thinking as well as those in need of improvement. It also brought consequences for the design of a tool that implements the penC. From these results, the model was refined, implemented and evaluated, through a quasi-experiment, during a course of development of digital games that introduced concepts of programming logic to beginners of this area. The results obtained with the experimental study demonstrate the contribution of the proposal on the education of students, generating positive impact on self-regulation and learning of computational thinking and also repercussions in playability of games produced during the education on introductory concepts of programming. Moreover, the teacher evaluated the experience with the use of the proposed model as positive and reported the perception of positive results on the education process of the students.

We show that in connection with the digitalization of musicology a special kind of mathematical and logical thinking, i. e. computational thinking/literacy, is in need. Computational thinking is characterized by effective procedures whereas computational literacy includes the implementation of these procedures on machines, i.e. programming. Both are the core of formalization, model building and computer simulation. Furthermore, we point out that “computation” as a central concept for the sciences in the 21st century and its use in cognitive science and the computational sciences make it necessary to reassess the basic assumptions underlying musicological research as science of mind (Geisteswissenschaft). We propose a digital habitat to integrate computational thinking/literacy in musicology and to become acquainted with model building and computer simulation. Jupyter Notebook provides a basis for such a digital habitat. We describe our use of Jupyter Notebook as a teaching environment for computational thinking/literacy.

With a background of digitalisation and what that has meant for the introduction of programming in the mathematics syllabus, this literature review examines forms of application for programming within mathematics in upper secondary school. This review also sets the background with the help of important key competencies for a digitalized information society, such as computational thinking, as described by the European Commission. The Swedish National Agency for Education has also prescribed several of these key competencies in its curricula. Previous research has also shown that increased digitalisation leads to an increased divide in society and threatens the equality of the school system. Thus, this review also examines possible risks of digital exclusion that applications of programming within mathematics and an emphasis on digitalisation may entail. To better explain this, Bourdieu’s theory of capital and habitus together with Selwyn’s theory of technical capital are used. The search results and their empirical data within this review include case studies, correlation and regression analyses, and data collected through interviews, questionnaires, and more. This review should not be considered generalizable for Sweden as a whole, but it shows several forms of application for programming within school mathematics and describes the impact on learning, risks of digital exclusion, success factors, and benefits this may entail. Furthermore, aspects of digital exclusion explicitly regarding capital are also discussed. This review is far from exhaustive, and several identified aspects have had to be excluded due to an ever-increasing scope. However, this only seems to indicate that interest for and within the research field is high and that it is actively being researched. This review highlights what much other research has shown, namely that the picture is not unambiguous and needs to be further clarified, which leads the discussion to further research. This review proposes a qualitative study to empirically examine students’ experiences of possible digital exclusion with an explicit connection to the application of programming within mathematics.

The aim of this study is to contribute to the knowledge about how pupils design their learning in programming. It is mainly the learning process, how pupils deal with problems in programming and how they become, are and remain engaged in the tasks, which is of interest. Programming can be understood in many ways; coding, a digital competence, creativity, or ways to solve problems. The digitalisation of society has also evoked a need to learn programming from an early age in compulsory school. In this study, programming is seen as a part of the digital competence that all pupils should have the opportunity to develop, which is a common thread that runs throughout compulsory school.   The study was conducted during programming lessons at three science centres in Sweden. The centres had previous experience in teaching programming. This was used at the time of the study by schools that in this way could offer pupils to try programming even before it became part of the compulsory teaching. The lessons were adapted for novices in programming and were conducted as part of the regular school day for pupils in grades 1-8.   The theoretical framework is based on design-oriented theory with a focus on how settings and design for learning includes both opportunities and dilemmas for learning. It provides a basis for the analysis of pupils’ approaches when learning programming as well as how different types of engagement relates to their design in learning. The results are presented in two articles, which contribute with different aspects of learning. Together the articles provide a picture of pupils’ learning design within programming in compulsory school.    The first article highlights knowledge of five different approaches that pupils used to solve assignments using programming. The qualitatively different ways that pupils used during the observed lessons were mathematically, trial and error, step-by-step, routine as well as aesthetically.  Each of these approaches allows pupils to use and practice different abilities that are important for programming. The abilities are compared to, but not equal to computational thinking (CT), which (in its turn) is linked to competencies that are important for an active participation in a digital society.    The second article contributes to the understanding of how behavioural, emotional, and cognitive engagement can be identified when pupils are learning programming. To understand how the different types of engagement are individually important, yet intertwined and influencing each other, is keen knowledge. The results show how different types of engagement become visible during programming lessons. Furthermore, it is discussed how the pupils’ identified engagement can be related to how their learning process is designed.  In the study, taken as a whole, the results of the two articles show how pupils become designers in their programming learning process. The pupils designed their learning throughout their learning process regarding to the settings, to the approach they used and in the way they became engaged. / Studiens övergripande syfte är att fördjupa kunskapen om hur elever designar sitt lärande i programmering. Det är främst elevernas lärandeprocess, hur de tar sig an problem inom programmering och hur de blir, är och förblir engagerade i uppgifterna, som är av intresse. Programmering kan förstås på många olika sätt, kodning, en digital kompetens, kreativitet eller sätt att lösa problem. Digitaliseringen i samhället har även aktualiserat behovet av att lära sig programmering redan från tidig ålder i grundskolan. I denna studie ses programmering som en del av den digitala kompetens alla elever ska ha möjlighet att utveckla och som finns med som en röd tråd genom hela grundskolan.    Studien genomfördes under programmeringslektioner på tre science centers i Sverige. Science center har lång erfarenhet av att undervisa i programmering för barn och unga. Detta nyttjades vid tidpunkten för studien av skolor som på det sättet kunde erbjuda eleverna att prova på programmering redan innan det blev en del av den obligatoriska undervisningen. Lektionerna var anpassade för nybörjare i programmering och genomfördes som en del av skoldagen för elever i årskurs 1-8.    Det teoretiska ramverket har utgångspunkt i designorienterad teori, med fokus på hur iscensättning och design för lärande, som omfattar både möjligheter och dilemman för lärande. Ramverket ger en grund för hur elevers lärprocess och engagemang för att lära sig programmering kan analyseras.   Resultaten redovisas i form av två artiklar som tillsammans ge en bild av design för och i lärande under programmeringslektioner. Den första artikeln bidrar med kunskap om fem olika tillvägagångssätt (i artikel 1 på engelska, approach) som elever använde för att lösa uppgifter med hjälp av programmering. De kvalitativt olika sätt som eleverna använde under de observerade lektionerna var matematiskt, fel- och försök igen, steg-för-steg, rutin samt estetiskt. Var och ett av dessa tillvägagångssätt gav eleverna möjlighet att använda och träna olika förmågor som är viktiga för att kunna programmera. Förmågorna jämförs, men likställs inte med datalogiskt tänkande (CT) vilket kan anses vara knutet till kompetenser som är viktiga för att aktivt kunna delta i ett digitalt samhälle.   Den andra artikelns kunskapsbidrag är att förstå hur beteendemässigt, emotionellt och kognitivt engagemang kan identifieras när elever programmerar. Att förstå hur de olika typerna av engagemang är viktiga var och en för sig, samtidigt som de är sammanflätade och påverkar varandra, är angelägen kunskap. Resultaten visar hur olika typer av engagemang blir synliga under programmeringslektioner. Vidare diskuteras hur elevernas identifierade engagemang kan relateras till hur deras lärprocess designas.   I den sammanlagda studien visar resultaten från de båda artiklarna på hur elever blev designers för och i sitt lärande i programmering. Eleverna designade sitt lärande genom hela lärprocessen med hänseende till iscensättningen, vilka tillvägagångssätt de använde och hur de hade möjlighet att vara engagerade på olika sätt.