Design Science Research for Computational Thinking in Constructionist Education: A Pragmatist Perspective

Dolgopolovas, Vladimiras; Dagienė, Valentina; Jasutė, Eglė; Jevsikova, Tatjana

doi:10.15388/problemos.95.12

Cited by 16 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Finally, for educational foundations, we consider problem‐ and project‐based approaches, not only from the perspectives of instructional design, but also, and what is particularly important in the context of our study, from constructionists' and pragmatists' perspective of STEM education [13]. Constructionism provides foundations for important practical settings, considering education as a meaningful and socially connected activity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated activities in STEM environment: Methodology and implementation practice

Juškevičienė

Dagienė

Dolgopolovas

2020

Comp Applic In Engineering

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Introduction Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and STEAM (with A for Arts) have evolved to symbolize the renewal of science education. STEAM education offers a number of benefits, such as improved problem analysis and solving skills, as well as the development of creative abilities. Many researchers reiterate the importance of STEAM‐related activities and programs, especially the integration of maker education. Despite much interest in STEAM, it is often challenging for many educators to incorporate integrated activities into their teaching practice. This paper deals with the value of STEAM integration in a methodological sense, with a focus on the maker's laboratory and physical computing, as well as the application of design thinking and computational thinking approaches. Motivation and Objectives The goal of this study is to develop a comprehensive conceptual framework for integrated STEM curricula focusing on the following research questions: (a) how to improve daily activities of STEM education by combining the activities of different laboratories and using a design thinking approach? and (b) how to combine FabLab activities and physical computing related to teaching different aspects of computational thinking in the context of STEM? Research Methodology and Methods As a research methodology, we implement a mixed methods strategy to combine theoretical study and empirical research based on a synthesized literature survey and the process of iterative model development based on an observational case study. We conduct a detailed case study of two applications of integrated activities based on FabLab and physical computing integration, and illustrate how design thinking can guide teachers to open up for interdisciplinary, creative, and project‐based opportunities. Results and Findings The paper provides a conceptual framework for STEM integration activities and step‐by‐step guidelines on how design thinking methods could could interact in practice. The implications of the results may be useful for educators seeking recommendations for the integration process, which enable educators to design hands‐on activities and incorporate integrated aspect of students' STEAM learning into teaching practice. In conclusions, the authors suggest that as interdisciplinary crossroads, design thinking provides a natural bridge between subjects, and fits especially to integrate activities of the maker's labs and physical computing, focusing on the integration of computational thinking and computational making approaches within STEM education environment. The absence of a statistical evaluation, which is positioned as a further research step, may be mentioned as a limitation of the study.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated activities in STEM environment: Methodology and implementation practice

Juškevičienė

Dagienė

Dolgopolovas

2020

Comp Applic In Engineering

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“…Araujo et al (2019) analyzed the answers of 1564 students who participated in the Bebras challenge from statistical perspective, and their findings showed that the Bebras questions were effective in measuring students' CT concepts and skills. Dolgopolovas et al (2015) also found that Bebras questions were effective in measuring students' understanding of CT and used the results as a basis for adjusting lectures. Indeed, the level of CT skills measured by the Bebras CT Challenge questions is the degree to which students can apply CT skills to solve real-world problems (Izu et al, 2017).…”

Section: Evaluation Of Ctmentioning

confidence: 95%

Effects of Gamified Python Programming on Primary School Students’ Computational Thinking Skills: A Differential Analysis of Gender

Sun,

Liu

2023

Journal of Educational Computing Research

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Computational thinking (CT), as a new future-oriented literacy, has gained attention at the basic education level. Graphical programming is the common way to develop CT in primary students, but this drag-and-drop programming may weaken students’ understanding of programming’s abstract concepts and code logic. Text-based programming approaches can solve the problems faced by graphical programming, but few studies have explored the impact of text-based programming on CT. Therefore, we conducted a quasi-experimental study with 98 6th graders to explore the impact of gamified Python programming on CT. The findings showed that CT skills, as well as abstraction and decomposition, pattern recognition and evaluation in CT sub-skills, were significantly higher with students in the experimental group than in the control group. Furthermore, we found that gamified Python programming enabled boys and girls to reach the same level of CT skills. However, in terms of CT sub-skills, we found that gamified Python programming was more beneficial to the development of pattern recognition and evaluation skills for boys and abstraction and decomposition skills for girls. This demonstrated the effectiveness of gamified Python programming to improve primary students’ CT skills while clarifying the impact of gender and enriching research in the field of text-based programming.

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“…Although Scratch has primarily been associated with a young learning audience (e.g., Chou, 2020;Rose et al, 2020), it's a user-friendly visual interface where students stack and fit blocks together, rather than write code via complex and technical syntax. This block-building metaphor for programming and coding, however, can encourage CT for beginners in the domain regardless of age (e.g., Dolgopolovas et al, 2015;Korkmaz, 2016;Romero et al, 2017). With Scratch, users can learn the ISSN 2513-8359 fundamental principles of programming (e.g., sequences, loops, conditional statements, etc.)…”

Section: What Is Scratch Programming/coding?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Analyzing computational thinking studies in Scratch programming: A review of elementary education literature

Stewart

Baek

2023

IJCSES

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Computational Thinking (CT) has become popular in recent years and has been recognized as an essential skill in the digital age. CT literature, however, is at an early stage of development, and there is no consensus among researchers/scholars and to date, many scholars and practitioners have been unable to concretely explain what CT is, or how to teach or assess this skill set. The purpose of this literature review is to examine papers that focus on CT in terms of elementary education, elementary-aged learners, and related issues/considerations in order to provide a better understanding of the CT in an elementary context. An inductive qualitative content analysis was conducted on 61 papers set in elementary school settings about CT from 2010-2020. Five main themes emerged from the review: exploiting tangible blocks in a physical coding environment, integrating Scratch into various disciplines through programming, Scratch gaming for computational thinking, evaluating computational thinking skills through Scratch projects, and teaching and learning methods/factors affecting CT in children. Implications for practice and directions for future research are discussed.

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Design Science Research for Computational Thinking in Constructionist Education: A Pragmatist Perspective

Cited by 16 publications

References 26 publications

Integrated activities in STEM environment: Methodology and implementation practice

Integrated activities in STEM environment: Methodology and implementation practice

Effects of Gamified Python Programming on Primary School Students’ Computational Thinking Skills: A Differential Analysis of Gender

Analyzing computational thinking studies in Scratch programming: A review of elementary education literature

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