Bringing computer science back into schools

Brown, Neil C. C.; Kölling, Michael; Crick, Tom; Jones, Simon Peyton; Humphreys, Simon; Sentance, Sue

doi:10.1145/2445196.2445277

Cited by 75 publications

(57 citation statements)

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“…The UK has seen fast-paced change in the area of computer science education in the last few years (Brown et al 2013;Brown, Sentance, Crick, & Humphreys, 2014). The state of computer science education is different in the four parts of the UK, with England having just implemented an ambitious new curriculum in Computing, to be taught from ages 5-16, and with a strong focus on computational thinking.…”

Section: The Context: Change In the Curriculummentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the UK there is a strong subject association for computer science teachers, Computing At School (Brown et al 2013). Through this grass-roots community of practice teachers are able to share resources, share experiences and attend local events.…”

Section: The Context: Change In the Curriculummentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For teachers facing curriculum change, how to teach it is very pertinent. Introducing new content does not merely mean that teachers have to equip themselves with new subject knowledge, which of course in many cases they do (Brown et al 2013;Sentance et al 2013;. Teachers also need to learn appropriate pedagogies for delivering a new subject, particularly in those aspects of computer science that relate to algorithms, programming and the development of computational thinking skills.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Computing in the curriculum: Challenges and strategies from a teacher’s perspective

2016

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Computing is being introduced into the curriculum in many countries. Teachers' perspectives enable us to discover what challenges this presents, and also the strategies teachers claim to be using successfully in teaching the subject across primary and secondary education. The study described in this paper was carried out in the UK in 2014 where teachers were preparing for the mandatory inclusion of Computing into the curriculum. A survey was conducted of over 300 teachers who were currently teaching Computing to elicit their perspectives on challenges and strategies. From the analysis of the data, extrinsic and intrinsic challenges were identified for both teachers and students. In addition, a variety of pedagogical strategies were recommended by teachers from their own practice. In categorising approaches taken by teaching to support students five key themes emerged: unplugged type activities, contextualisation of tasks, collaborative learning, developing computational thinking, and scaffolding programming tasks. Further investigation could support whether these strategies can alleviate the challenges of teaching and learning of Computing for students and teachers. In particular developing student resilience in Computing is seen as a challenge while not many strategies are suggested. The results of this study will be useful for teachers who are new to the teaching of Computing.

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Section: The Context: Change In the Curriculummentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Context: Change In the Curriculummentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Computing in the curriculum: Challenges and strategies from a teacher’s perspective

2016

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“…This is driven by government recognition of global shortages and gender imbalances in supplies of school leavers to higher education and in computer science graduates to industry. This important transformation is clearly building momentum under the auspices of the grassroots organisation 'Computing At Schools' and with the support from key professional, industry and academic bodies, such as Microsoft Research and the British Computer Society (Brown et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A mixed-methods exploration of an environment for learning computer programming

Mather

2015

Research in Learning Technology

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A mixed-methods approach is evaluated for exploring collaborative behaviour, acceptance and progress surrounding an interactive technology for learning computer programming. A review of literature reveals a compelling case for using mixed-methods approaches when evaluating technology-enhanced-learning environments. Here, ethnographic approaches used for the requirements engineering of computing systems are combined with questionnaire-based feedback and skill tests. These are applied to the 'Ceebot' animated 3D learning environment. Video analysis with workplace observation allowed detailed inspection of problem solving and tacit behaviours. Questionnaires and knowledge tests provided broad sample coverage with insights into subject understanding and overall response to the learning environment. Although relatively low scores in programming tests seemingly contradicted the perception that Ceebot had enhanced understanding of programming, this perception was nevertheless found to be correlated with greater test performance. Video analysis corroborated findings that the learning environment and Ceebot animations were engaging and encouraged constructive collaborative behaviours. Ethnographic observations clearly captured Ceebot's value in providing visual cues for problem-solving discussions and for progress through sharing discoveries. Notably, performance in tests was most highly correlated with greater programming practice (p 50.01). It was apparent that although students had appropriated technology for collaborative working and benefitted from visual and tacit cues provided by Ceebot, they had not necessarily deeply learned the lessons intended. The key value of the 'mixed-methods' approach was that ethnographic observations captured the authenticity of learning behaviours, and thereby strengthened confidence in the interpretation of questionnaire and test findings.

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“…Computing has now been implemented in the curriculum in England for all children from ages 5 -16; the rationale and preparation for this was described in [3,4]. The aims of the new curriculum are that all pupils:…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Online vs Face-To-Face Engagement of Computing Teachers for their Professional Development Needs

Sentance

Humphreys²

2015

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

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Abstract. After a period of intense activity in preparation for the transition, Computing has been implemented in the curriculum in England for all children from ages 5-16. In this paper we investigate the aspects of professional development that Computing teachers are utilising. We conducted a survey of over 900 Computing teachers in England and use the results to reflect on the benefits of face-to-face vs online communities to support teachers. Our results show that teachers find the face-to-face events and training to be useful, and that teachers in our community are participating in many hours of professional development in order to address their needs in content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge in Computing. Furthermore an online community is valuable in supporting teachers who require resources, access to expertise and guidance on curriculum issues in addition to face-to-face training, networking and support.

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Bringing computer science back into schools

Cited by 75 publications

References 1 publication

Computing in the curriculum: Challenges and strategies from a teacher’s perspective

Computing in the curriculum: Challenges and strategies from a teacher’s perspective

A mixed-methods exploration of an environment for learning computer programming

Online vs Face-To-Face Engagement of Computing Teachers for their Professional Development Needs

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