Preservice Teachers’ Introduction to Computing

Abstract

Computational thinking has been gaining new impetus in the academic community and in K-12 level education. Scratch is a visual programming environment that can be utilized to teach and learn introductory computing concepts. There are some studies investigating the effectiveness of Scratch for K-12 level education. However, studies that have been conducted at the collegiate level, especially in the context of preservice computing teacher education, are very rare. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of Scratch-based instruction on preservice teachers' understanding of basic programming concepts and their attitudes toward programming. In the present study, a mixed method design was utilized. In the first phase of the study, the data were collected using an achievement test, a practice test, and a computer programming attitude scale. In the second phase of the study, data were collected through a semistructured interview. The results of the study indicated that preservice teachers in Scratch-based instruction had significantly better understanding of basic computing concepts. Qualitative data indicated that Scratch-based instruction was useful in constructing a more meaningful learning environment for preservice teachers. The results of this study have implications for researchers and preservice computing teacher educators when designing an introductory computing course.

Fostering computational thinking through collaborative game-based learning

“…One of its biggest strengths is the large and heterogeneous community of users that, combined with the possibility of reusing and remixing other users' code, permits to cooperate, share knowledge and realize complex games more easily. Scratch is widely considered a successful tool to teach programming to K-12 students and foster CT skills [5,12,23], even though some researchers underline that programming games with Scratch happens at a much lower code level than in other tools, such as AgentSheets [46].…”

The Development of CT-S Learning Module on The Linear Motion Topic to Promote Computational Thinking Thinking

“…Computational thinking is a process of thought involved in formulating and solving a problem in such a way that the solution can be done by a human or machine or both (Wing, 2010). Studies on computational thinking have become increasingly popular among researchers including the importance of computational thinking in K-12 education (Cetin, 2016;Bocconi et al, 2016). These studies were driven by many factors including technological and economic demands for the future workforce that have the necessary computer skills (Chen et al, 2017).…”

“…Programming is one of the tools to cultivate such skills (Wing, 2010). One way to introduce and apply computational thinking to students is to use tools, such as Scratch (Cetin, 2016;Shute et al, 2017). Scratch is a programming language application that can be used offline and is downloaded for free (Lawanto et al, 2017).…”

A Study of the Readiness of Implementing Computational Thinking in Compulsory Education in Taiwan

“…When the teachers design CT-related courses, they mostly use block-based programming tools for the basic level. Cetin (2016) considered CT to be the foundation, and applied Scratch to pre-service teachers' training. The results indicated that this did indeed help the teachers in arranging beginner courses, and the visual programming environment could help teachers better understand CT (Cetin, 2016).…”