presentation for wipsce 2017 - development of computational thinking skills through unplugged...
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Development of Computational Thinking Skillsthrough Unplugged Activities in Primary School
Christian P. BRACKMANN1, Marcos ROMÁN-GONZÁLEZ2, Gregorio ROBLES2, Jesús MORENO-LEÓN2, Ana CASALI3, Dante BARONE1
1(IFFAT, UFRGS - Brazil), 2(UNED, URJC - Spain), 3(UNR - Argentina)
{WiPSCE, Nijmegen, 09th November 2017}
INTRODUCTION
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
Computational thinking (CT) is nowadays being widely adopted and investigated in many countries
all over the world….
INTRODUCTION
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
Two main approaches to develop CT skills in school
INTRODUCTION
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
Two main approaches to develop CT skills in school
Computer programming
activities
INTRODUCTION
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
Two main approaches to develop CT skills in school
Computer programming
activities
Fundamental way that enables CT to come alive
A demonstration of computational
competencies
INTRODUCTION
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
Two main approaches to develop CT skills in school
Computer programming
activities
Fundamental way that enables CT to come alive
A demonstration of computational
competencies
Unplugged activities
INTRODUCTION
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
Two main approaches to develop CT skills in school
Computer programming
activities
Fundamental way that enables CT to come alive
A demonstration of computational
competencies
Unplugged activities
For schools without basic
technology resources
For early ages with limited screen time
INTRODUCTION
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
Two main approaches to develop CT skills in school
Computer programming
activities
Fundamental way that enables CT to come alive
A demonstration of computational
competencies
Unplugged activities
For schools without basic
technology resources
For early ages with limited screen time
BACKGROUND
To what extent has the unplugged approach been investigated regarding CT development?
• SLR (Kalelioglu et al., 2016) 34 of 125 articles (27,2%)
To what extent are in-service teachers using unplugged activities in their CS lessons?
• Survey (Sentance et al., 2015) 47 of 357 teachers (13%)
To what extent do unplugged activities enhance confidence and interest in CS?
• Non conclusive results
To what extent does the unplugged approach works for CS teachers training?
• Survey (Curzon et al., 2013, 2014) Positive results
To what extent are unplugged activities effective to improve CT skills?
• Pre-experimental research: pretest-posttest without control group (e.g., Rodríguez et al., 2017) Positive results in middle-school
BACKGROUND
To what extent has the unplugged approach been investigated regarding CT development?
• SLR (Kalelioglu et al., 2016) 34 of 125 articles (27,2%)
To what extent are in-service teachers using unplugged activities in their CS lessons?
• Survey (Sentance et al., 2015) 47 of 357 teachers (13%)
To what extent do unplugged activities enhance confidence and interest in CS?
• Non conclusive results
To what extent does the unplugged approach works for CS teachers training?
• Survey (Curzon et al., 2013, 2014) Positive results
To what extent are unplugged activities effective to improve CT skills?
• Pre-experimental research: pretest-posttest without control group (e.g., Rodríguez et al., 2017) Positive results in middle-school
BACKGROUND
To what extent has the unplugged approach been investigated regarding CT development?
• SLR (Kalelioglu et al., 2016) 34 of 125 articles (27,2%)
To what extent are in-service teachers using unplugged activities in their CS lessons?
• Survey (Sentance et al., 2015) 47 of 357 teachers (13%)
To what extent do unplugged activities enhance confidence and interest in CS?
• Non conclusive results
To what extent does the unplugged approach works for CS teachers training?
• Survey (Curzon et al., 2013, 2014) Positive results
To what extent are unplugged activities effective to improve CT skills?
• Pre-experimental research: pretest-posttest without control group (e.g., Rodríguez et al., 2017) Positive results in middle-school
BACKGROUND
To what extent has the unplugged approach been investigated regarding CT development?
• SLR (Kalelioglu et al., 2016) 34 of 125 articles (27,2%)
To what extent are in-service teachers using unplugged activities in their CS lessons?
• Survey (Sentance et al., 2015) 47 of 357 teachers (13%)
To what extent do unplugged activities enhance confidence and interest in CS?
• Non conclusive results
To what extent does the unplugged approach works for CS teachers training?
• Survey (Curzon et al., 2013, 2014) Positive results
To what extent are unplugged activities effective to improve CT skills?
• Pre-experimental research: pretest-posttest without control group (e.g., Rodríguez et al., 2017) Positive results in middle-school
BACKGROUND
To what extent has the unplugged approach been investigated regarding CT development?
• SLR (Kalelioglu et al., 2016) 34 of 125 articles (27,2%)
To what extent are in-service teachers using unplugged activities in their CS lessons?
• Survey (Sentance et al., 2015) 47 of 357 teachers (13%)
To what extent do unplugged activities enhance confidence and interest in CS?
• Non conclusive results
To what extent does the unplugged approach works for CS teachers training?
• Survey (Curzon et al., 2013, 2014) Positive results
To what extent are unplugged activities effective to improve CT skills?
• Pre-experimental research: pretest-posttest without control group (e.g., Rodríguez et al., 2017) Positive results in middle-school
BACKGROUND
There is a lack of experimental investigations that prove the effectiveness
of the unplugged activities in the development of CT skills, particularly in
Primary School
RESEARCH QUESTION
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
Is the unplugged approach effective for developing CT skills, specifically in Primary School?
RESEARCH QUESTION
RESEARCH QUESTION
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
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gIs the unplugged approach effective for developing
CT skills, specifically in Primary School?
METHOD {Research Design}
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
METHOD {Research Design}
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
Week #1
METHOD {Research Design}
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
Week #1 Week #2 – Week #6
METHOD {Research Design}
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
Week #1 Week #7Week #2 – Week #6
METHOD {Participants}
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
Grade Age ConditionGender
TotalBoys Girls
School A 5th 10-11 y.o.
Control
Experimental
School B 6th 11-12 y.o.
Control
Experimental
Total 73
METHOD {Participants}
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
Grade Age ConditionGender
TotalBoys Girls
School A 5th 10-11 y.o.
Control 10 13
Experimental 10 10
School B 6th 11-12 y.o.
Control 6 8
Experimental 9 7
Total 73
METHOD {Participants}
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
Grade Age ConditionGender
TotalBoys Girls
School A 5th 10-11 y.o.
Control 10 13 23
Experimental 10 10 20
School B 6th 11-12 y.o.
Control 6 8
Experimental 9 7
Total 73
METHOD {Participants}
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
Grade Age ConditionGender
TotalBoys Girls
School A 5th 10-11 y.o.
Control 10 13 23
Experimental 10 10 20
School B 6th 11-12 y.o.
Control 6 8 14
Experimental 9 7 16
Total 73
METHOD {Participants}
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
Grade Age ConditionGender
TotalBoys Girls
School A 5th 10-11 y.o.
Control 10 13 23
Experimental 10 10 20
School B 6th 11-12 y.o.
Control 6 8 14
Experimental 9 7 16
Total 35 38 73
METHOD {Teaching Materials}
METHOD {Teaching Materials}
Example #1: “Decomposition” activity
METHOD {Teaching Materials}
Example #1: “Decomposition” activity Example #2: “Monica’s Map” activity
METHOD {Teaching Materials}
Example #1: “Decomposition” activity Example #2: “Monica’s Map” activity
Example #3: “Elephants” activity
METHOD {Teaching Materials}
Example #4: “Tetris” activity
METHOD {Teaching Materials}
Example #4: “Tetris” activity Example #5: “Repetition Drawing” activity
METHOD {Teaching Materials}
Example #4: “Tetris” activity Example #5: “Repetition Drawing” activity
Example #6: “Monica’s Automata”
METHOD {Assessment Instruments}
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
https://goo.gl/5O06Oh
METHOD {Assessment Instruments}
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
https://goo.gl/5O06Oh
The CT-test has a precise (although necessarily reductionist) operational definition of CT:
METHOD {Assessment Instruments}
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
https://goo.gl/5O06Oh
The CT-test has a precise (although necessarily reductionist) operational definition of CT:
“CT is the ability to formulate and solve problems by relying on fundamental concepts of
computation: sequences, loops, conditionals, functions, and variables; and using the inherent
logic of computer programming”
METHOD {Assessment Instruments}
The specifications of the CT-test are:
• Target population: 5th – 10th Grade students (10-16 years old)
• Type of instrument: multiple-choice test.
• Length: 28 items; administered online in a maximum time of 45 minutes.
METHOD {Assessment Instruments}
Computational Concept
• Basic directions
• Loops-Repeat times
• Loops-Repeat until
• If-Simple conditional
• If/else-Complex conditional
• While conditional
• Simple functions
The specifications of the CT-test are:
• Target population: 5th – 10th Grade students (10-16 years old)
• Type of instrument: multiple-choice test.
• Length: 28 items; administered online in a maximum time of 45 minutes.
METHOD {Assessment Instruments}
Computational Concept
• Basic directions
• Loops-Repeat times
• Loops-Repeat until
• If-Simple conditional
• If/else-Complex conditional
• While conditional
• Simple functions
Style of Answers
• Visual arrows
• Visual blocks
The specifications of the CT-test are:
• Target population: 5th – 10th Grade students (10-16 years old)
• Type of instrument: multiple-choice test.
• Length: 28 items; administered online in a maximum time of 45 minutes.
METHOD {Assessment Instruments}
Computational Concept
• Basic directions
• Loops-Repeat times
• Loops-Repeat until
• If-Simple conditional
• If/else-Complex conditional
• While conditional
• Simple functions
Style of Answers
• Visual arrows
• Visual blocks
Required Cognitive Task
• Sequencing
• Completing
• Debugging
The specifications of the CT-test are:
• Target population: 5th – 10th Grade students (10-16 years old)
• Type of instrument: multiple-choice test.
• Length: 28 items; administered online in a maximum time of 45 minutes.
METHOD {Assessment Instruments}
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
Item #8 (‘maze’):loops ‘repeat times’ (nested); ‘visual blocks’; ‘sequencing’.
METHOD {Assessment Instruments}
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
Item #11 (‘maze’):loops ‘repeat until + repeat times’ (nested); ‘visual arrows’; ‘debugging’.
METHOD {Assessment Instruments}
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
Item #18 (‘maze’):loops ‘repeat until’ + if/else conditional (nested); ‘visual blocks’; ‘sequencing’.
METHOD {Assessment Instruments}
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
Item #26 (‘canvas’): loops ‘repeat times’ + simple functions (nested); ‘visual blocks’; ‘completing’.
METHOD {Assessment Instruments}
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
https://goo.gl/5O06Oh
METHOD {Assessment Instruments}
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
https://goo.gl/5O06Oh
Reliability :
• Internal Consistency r=.80
• Temporal Stability r=.70
Validity:
• Content Validity
• Criterion Validity
• Cognitive variables
• Non-cognitive variables
• Convergent Validity
• Bebras Tasks
• Dr. Scratch
Ro
mán
-Go
nzá
lez
et a
l. (2
01
5, 2
01
7a,
20
17
b)
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION{Quantitative Results}
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION{Quantitative Results}
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
d=.17
d=.80
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION{Quantitative Results}
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
ANCOVAF(1,72) = 11.69**
Global Effect Sized=.59
{moderate-large effect}
d=.17
d=.80
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION{Quantitative Results}
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
ANCOVAF(1,72) = 11.69**
Global Effect Sized=.59
{moderate-large effect}
d=.17
d=.80
≈Global Effect Size
d=.62
12 weeks quasi-experimentCode.org Course7th & 8th Grade
(Román-González, 2016)
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION{Quantitative Results}
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
5th Grade
Global Effect Sized=.55
6th Grade
Global Effect Sized=.63
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION{Quantitative Results}
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
5th Grade
Global Effect Sized=.55
6th Grade
Global Effect Sized=.63
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION{Qualitative Results}
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
“Decomposition” activity
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION{Qualitative Results}
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
“Decomposition” activity
LIMITATIONS AND THREATS TO VALIDITY
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
• The CT-test is heavily focused on ‘computational concepts’,only partially covers ‘computational practices’, and ignores‘computational perspectives’.
• The CT-test has a (deliberately) reductionist conception of CT,which puts over-emphasis on path-finding algorithms.
LIMITATIONS AND THREATS TO VALIDITY
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
• The CT-test is heavily focused on ‘computational concepts’,only partially covers ‘computational practices’, and ignores‘computational perspectives’.
• The CT-test has a (deliberately) reductionist conception of CT,which puts over-emphasis on path-finding algorithms.
• The unplugged activities used along the research might beexcessively aligned with the items of the CT-test, which couldinflate the effect size of the quasi-experiment.
• The unplugged activities were conducted by one of theresearchers, not by the regular teacher.
• Small size of the sample in our quasi-experiment (N < 120).
CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER RESEARCH
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
• Conclusion #1: The unplugged approach may beeffective to develop computational thinking inPrimary School.
CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER RESEARCH
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
• Conclusion #1: The unplugged approach may beeffective to develop computational thinking inPrimary School.
• Conclusion #2: The effect size of the unpluggedapproach to develop CT, seems to be similar to theone of programming.
CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER RESEARCH
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
• Conclusion #1: The unplugged approach may beeffective to develop computational thinking inPrimary School.
• Conclusion #2: The effect size of the unpluggedapproach to develop CT, seems to be similar to theone of programming.
• Conclusion #3: This results reinforce the conceptionof CT as a problem-solving cognitive ability whosedevelopment can be disconnected from computerprogramming.
CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER RESEARCH
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
How and when to combine and/or to merge unplugged and plugged activities, in order to
optimize the CT development?
CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER RESEARCH
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
How and when to combine and/or to merge unplugged and plugged activities, in order to
optimize the CT development?
Klopfenstein et al., 2017
REFERENCESPaul Curzon. 2013. cs4fn and computational thinking unplugged. In Proceedings of the 8thWorkshop in Primary andSecondary Computing Education. ACM, 47–50.
Paul Curzon, Peter W McOwan, Nicola Plant, and Laura R Meagher. 2014. Introducing teachers to computational thinkingusing unplugged storytelling. In Proceedings of the 9th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education. ACM,89–92.
Filiz Kalelioglu, Yasemin Gülbahar, and Volkan Kukul. 2016. A Framework for Computational Thinking Based on aSystematic Research Review. Baltic Journal of Modern Computing 4, 3 (2016), 583.
Lorenz Klopfenstein, Andiy Fedosyeyev, and Alessandro Bogliolo. 2017. Bringing an unplugged coding card game toaugmented reality. 9800–9805.
Brandon Rodriguez, Kennicutt Stephen, Cyndi Rader, and Tracy Camp. 2017. Assessing Computational Thinking in CSUnplugged Activities. In Proceedings of the 2017 ACM SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education.ACM, Seattle, Washington, USA, 501–506.
Marcos Román-González. 2015. Computational Thinking Test: Design Guidelines and Content Validation. In Proceedingsof the 7th Annual International Conference on Education and NewLearning Technologies (EDULEARN 2015). IATED,Barcelona, Spain, 2436–2444.
Marcos Román-González. 2016. Codigoalfabetización y Pensamiento Computacional en Educación Primaria ySecundaria: Validación de un Instrumento y Evaluación de Programas. Ph.D. Dissertation. Universidad Nacional deEducación a Distancia, Madrid, Spain.
Marcos Román-González, Juan-Carlos Pérez-González, and Carmen Jiménez-Fernández. 2017. Which cognitive abilitiesunderlie computational thinking? Criterion validity of the Computational Thinking Test. Computers in Human Behavior72 (July 2017), 678–691.
Marcos Román-González, Jesús Moreno-León, and Gregorio Robles. 2017. Complementary Tools for ComputationalThinking Assessment. In Proceedings of International Conference on Computational Thinking Education (CTE 2017), S. CKong, J Sheldon, and K. Y Li (Eds.). The Education University of Hong Kong, 154–159.
Sue Sentance and Andrew Csizmadia. 2015. Teachers’ perspectives on successful strategies for teaching Computing inschool. Paper presented at IFIP TCS 2015 (2015).
FOLLOW UP & CONTACT
WiPSCE 2017 - The 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education - Nijmegen, 9th November
Thanks for your attention