Unfolding the Curriculum: Physical Computing, Computational Thinking and Computational Experiment in STEM’s Transdisciplinary Approach

Abstract

The aim of the present article is to analyze the relation of physical computing with the computational thinking dimensions and the transdisciplinary approach of STEM epistemology in inquiry-based learning environments, when the methodology of the computational experiment is implemented. We argue that computational science and computational experiment can be applied in connection with STEM epistemology, when physical computing activities are embedded in the curriculum for Higher Education students. In order to implement this connection, we present software applications that combine algorithms and physical computing. We believe that engaging students through their existing STEM courses in physical computing - in the form of the computational experiment methodology- is a strategy that is much more likely to succeed in increasing the interest and appeal of STEM epistemology. Different learning modules were designed, which covered the combination of easy java simulations (Ejs) with Arduino and Raspberry pi.

Understanding the role of single‐board computers in engineering and computer science education: A systematic literature review

“…Essentially, computing is not an isolated field, as it requires, in many cases, the interaction of the designed algorithms with hardware devices to get information about the processes or systems that are handled in engineering or CS. At the educational level, PhyC has been incorporated into the education arena during the last two decades to promote and enhance the learning process of the students, specially regarding programming, problem‐solving, and computational thinking [89,90,93]. The new generation of students in engineering and CS needs to engage with hands‐on activities that foster their creativity and collaboration not only in the traditional screen‐based way to perform programming but also employing both physical artifacts and technologies [46].…”

A Conceptual Framework for Computational Pedagogy in STEAM education: Determinants and perspectives

“…is also the abstraction of a physical phenomenon to a conceptual model and its translation into a computational model that can be validated. This leads us to the notion of a computational experiment (CE), where the model and the computer take the place of the "classical" experimental set-up and where simulation(as working model) replaces the experiment (Psycharis, 2016a,b;Psycharis et al, 2018). CSE focuses on the form of an authentic problem to solve and follows a scientific problem-solving paradigm (Computational experiment -CSE-approach), with a sequence of steps as follows (see Figure 2…”

“…In the context of computer science education most of the research focus on programming (e.g. Qiu et al, 2013, Psycharis et al, 2017. Physical computing can be implemented in computer science in two ways: to teach computer science with physical computing, or to selectively use physical computing as an entry point to different topic areas of computer science (Przybylla & Romeike, 2014).Physical computing takes the computational concepts "out of the screen" and into the real world so that the student can interact with them by changing the model (Rubio et al, 2013).…”