Informatics in Schools. Sustainable Informatics Education for Pupils of all Ages: 6th International Conference on Informatics in Schools: Situation, Evolution, and Perspectives, ISSEP 2013, Oldenburg, Germany, February 26–March 2, 2013. Proceedings

220 Pages·2013·3.55 MB·English

by  Peter Hubwieser (auth.)

Lecture Notes in Computer Science 7780
CommencedPublicationin1973
FoundingandFormerSeriesEditors:
GerhardGoos,JurisHartmanis,andJanvanLeeuwen
EditorialBoard
DavidHutchison
LancasterUniversity,UK
TakeoKanade
CarnegieMellonUniversity,Pittsburgh,PA,USA
JosefKittler
UniversityofSurrey,Guildford,UK
JonM.Kleinberg
CornellUniversity,Ithaca,NY,USA
AlfredKobsa
UniversityofCalifornia,Irvine,CA,USA
FriedemannMattern
ETHZurich,Switzerland
JohnC.Mitchell
StanfordUniversity,CA,USA
MoniNaor
WeizmannInstituteofScience,Rehovot,Israel
OscarNierstrasz
UniversityofBern,Switzerland
C.PanduRangan
IndianInstituteofTechnology,Madras,India
BernhardSteffen
TUDortmundUniversity,Germany
MadhuSudan
MicrosoftResearch,Cambridge,MA,USA
DemetriTerzopoulos
UniversityofCalifornia,LosAngeles,CA,USA
DougTygar
UniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley,CA,USA
GerhardWeikum
MaxPlanckInstituteforInformatics,Saarbruecken,Germany
Ira Diethelm Roland T. Mittermeir (Eds.)
Informatics
in Schools
Sustainable Informatics Education
for Pupils of all Ages
6th International Conference on Informatics in Schools:
Situation, Evolution, and Perspectives, ISSEP 2013
Oldenburg, Germany, February 26 – March 2, 2013
Proceedings
1 3
VolumeEditors
IraDiethelm
CarlvonOssietzkyUniversitätOldenburg
FkII-DidaktikderInformatik
Uhlhornsweg84,26111Oldenburg
E-mail:[email protected]
RolandT.Mittermeir
Alpen-AdriaIniversitätKlagenfurt
InstitutfürInformatikdidaktik
Universitätsstr.65,9020Klagenfurt,Austria
E-mail:[email protected]
ISSN0302-9743 e-ISSN1611-3349
ISBN978-3-642-36616-1 e-ISBN978-3-642-36617-8
DOI10.1007/978-3-642-36617-8
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Preface
The International Conference on Informatics in Schools: Situation, Evolution,
andPerspective,hostedbyCarl von Ossietzky Universita¨t Oldenburg,Germany,
is the sixth in the series of ISSEP conferences. The aim of this conference se-
ries is to discuss trends in pre-tertiary education. Discussions take place not
only among scientists focussing on computer science / informatics education
but also include practicing informatics teachers. They participate as authors or
coauthorsof papers reporting innovative teaching approachesand also as active
participants in the audience.
Over the years, the topical focus has moderately shifted. Initially (2005)
ISSEPhaditsfocusoninformaticseducationinsecondaryschools.Inthemean-
time, use of computing technology has not only reached primary school but
even kindergarten. Consequently, ISSEP’s focus also includes these types of ed-
ucational institutions. Hand in hand with this extension of scope, informatics
education shifted in many countries from core concepts of informatics / com-
puter science to making children computer-literate [1]. However,in spite of this
change, the term informatics remained in school curricula. The price of this
topical shift exceeded semantic confusion, however. The role of informatics as
a technical discipline providing pupils with elementary constructive experience
in a non-physical domain got replaced by entraining them rather short-lived
application skills.
Consequently,topics addressedatISSEPfocussedonthis tensioninthe title
oftheproceedingssuchasFromComputerLiteracytoInformaticsFundamentals
(2005) or Informatics Education – The Bridge between Using and Understand-
ing Computers (2006). While the LNCS volume of the Third ISSEP (2008) still
contained papers on ICT and even a section on e-learning, the overall focus of
the conference has been on Informatics Education – Supporting Computational
Thinking. Thus, the emphasis of scientists and advanced educators has swung
back to the technical issues of how computational (in most cases algorithmic)
thinking can be stimulated even in young children (c.f. proceedings for the 4th
and5th ISSEP2010and2011).Theessentialideabehindtheimportanceofcom-
putational thinking has reached a large audience by means of Jeannete Wing’s
paperinthe Communicationsofthe ACM, March2006[2].Variouspaperspub-
lishedinISSEPproceedingshaveaddressedthisissuebyshowingavenuesofhow
to teach computational or algorithmic thinking even to young pupils.
Now, the community of scientists is aiming to advance informatics educa-
tion to the level were pupils and young students are enabled to experience core
concepts of informatics in some plasticity. Thus, the contributions of this sci-
entific discipline are not hidden in some more or less shiny and colorful black
box. Nowadays, the message that computing concepts are relevant for all has
even reached politicians. The CSTA-report, titled Running on Empty, received
VI Preface
widespreadattentionnotonlyinthe USandinGreatBritain.The reportofthe
Royal Society and the related steps of the Minister for Education led to drastic
changes in Great Britain (see keynote by Sue Sentance et al. in this volume).
These actions also received attention by ministerial offices in other countries.
Nevertheless,the“victory”forteachingcoreconceptsofinformaticsismerely
partial.Ministerialdecreescanonlybesetintopracticeifthenecessaryresources
exist. The key resource in this case are teachers and their qualifications. It is
definitely much easier for the administration of an educational system to send
teachersto courseswhere they are made familiar with how to use some particu-
lar application system than teaching them computer science concepts, enabling
them to developlessonsandcoursesonconstructivetechnicalissues suitable for
thespecificagegrouptheyaretomeetinclass.Itmightbeachallengeforforth-
commingISSEPstoaddressthisissueandprovideadministratorsandpoliticians
with some help based on (specific) experience gained in various countries.
Thisleadstothestructureandcontentsoftheseproceedingsofthe6thISSEP.
The volume consists of two keynote papers and 15 contributed papers. The
latterwereselectedoutof48submissions;i.e.,31%ofthepaperswereaccepted
for these proceedings. Another 14 papers and five workshop descriptions are
published in the local proceedings [3]. Altogether, ISSEP 2013 encompassed
presentations covering research and situational descriptions by authors coming
from 15 countries.
The proceedings are opened by two keynotes. Peter Hubwieser’s keynote
presentsa modelfora researchframeworkforcomputer science inschools.Hav-
ing such a framework is important especially when looking at informatics at
school,since the schoolsystem is highly influenced by national,sometimes even
regional or school-specific side conditions. Consequently, research results need
to be put into context in order to be valuable for the international community.
We attempted to clarify some of these issues for papers printed here. But of
course, such attempts for classification and placement in some framework have
to be made by authors before writing a paper and even before defining their
research.ThekeynotebySueSentance,MarkDorling,andAdamMcNicolleads
intothepressingissueofrevolutionizingacurriculumgivenmostoftheteachers
disposingofonlyaninsufficientknowledgebase.Teachersneedtobeempowered
to teachCS in sucha way that the generaleducationalvalue ofinformatics as a
technical discipline is properly conveyed. This has to be accomplished without
falling into the trap of teaching informatics in a way that critics may argue,
“They just want to make us a nation of programmers!”
The next section, “From Computer Usage to Computational Thinking,” re-
lates directly to the issues raised in this keynote. Franc¸oise Tort and B´eatrice
Drot-Delange report that France, while moving apparently in smaller steps to-
ward the same goal, faces the same issue. In Poland, as reported by Maciej
Sysl(cid:3)o and Anna Beate Kwiatkowska,the situation seems less critical because of
a long-termstrategy that did not allow ICT to become divorcedfromcomputer
science.
Preface VII
Specific issuesinvolvedwith“AlgorithmicandComputationalThinking”are
raisedinthepapersbyDavidGinatetal.andbyL(cid:3) ’udmilaJaˇskova´.DavidGinat,
Eti Menashe, and Amal Taya demonstrate difficulties and erroneous strategies
novices used when combining primitive programming patterns in an interleaved
way. L(cid:3) ’udmila Jaˇskov´aaddresses the important issue of how to enable students
with some impairment, here blind pupils, to solve algorithmic problems.
Motivating students is always an issue. Often enough, educators use moti-
vation as an excuse for throwing most recent technology in front of students
instead of letting them ponder why on earth this technology might work the
way it does. The papers in the section “Games” show that one can use moti-
vating games (and most modern technology) also in a way to finally arrive at
seriousinformaticsconcepts.GabrielaLova´szov´aandVieraPalma´rova´reporton
their attempts of linking location-based games with graph algorithms. Monika
Tomcs´anyiova´ works with teacher-students. The paper reports on transferring
gamedevelopmentskillsbythesestudentstopupilsinsecondaryschooltheyare
finally to instruct.
ContinuingwithmotivationforCS-for-Allapproaches,the papersinthe sec-
tion “Informatics in the Context of Other Disciplines” address informatics ed-
ucation from the vantage point of widening the scope of informatics lessons.
Thevariouspapersinthissectionaddressthisissuefromdifferentangles.Maria
Knobelsdorf and Josh Tenenberg provide a theoretical framework for such ap-
proaches.Diana Bitto and Claudio Mirolo depart from the excitement of arche-
ology in order to finally arrive at the development of expressing numeric infor-
mationinprehistorictimes to the numberingsystemwe arecurrentlyusing and
its advantages over the Roman system pupils will still meet on some inscrip-
tions. Different representations for the same kind of information. Hence, binary
numbers are not as radically new or “strange” as pupils might think initially.
Further, pupils realize that semantics does not result from a specific notation.
It results from conventions, or if critical, from standards. The paper by Rivka
Taub,MichalArmoni,andMordechaiBen-Arichangesthe perspective.Theau-
thorsreportonaphysicstaskwherepupilsusedcomputationalthinkinginorder
to arrive at an acceptable solution. The relationship between physics and com-
putational thinking is also expressed in the paper by Jan Benacka and Jaroslav
Reichel. Here, the trajectory of a bullet (or ball) should be simulated by a pro-
gram written in Delphi. The paper by Simone Opel and Torsten Brinda closes
this section.The authorsreportonthe adoptionoflearningfields byteachersof
vocational schools partaking in the dual education of apprentices.
The proceedings close with a section on “Competence-Based Learning and
RetentionofCompetencies.”ThepaperbyJohannesMagenheimetal.compares
two standards of CS-related competencies developed within Germany for par-
tialidentity,overlap,andpotentialcontradiction.PeterAntonitschandBarbara
Sabitzer reporton experience in teaching in a competency-orientedcontext and
on aspects of retaining competencies and related knowledge. Their recommen-
dations are justified by results from neuroscience. Monika Tomcs´anyiova´ and
Martina Kaba´tova´’s paper falls well in line with conclusions from the previous
VIII Preface
paper. Their research aims at classifying the use of pictures in tasks of the
Bebras contest (Informatics-Beaver). An important aspect to be considered be-
yondaninformaticscontextarethevariousfunctionspicturesassumeincontrast
as well as in combination with text. Holger Danielsiek, Ludger Humbert, and
JanVahrenholdreportona process of soliciting informationandattitudes from
teacher-studentsatdifferentstagesintheir curriculumbyaDelphiprocess.The
measurablechangeofopinionaswellastheself-assessmentofchangeversussta-
bilityarecontrasted.Further,changesinassessingthedifficultyofvarioustopics
withinthetwodifferentgroupsofstudentsisshownandthecontextdependency
of these assessments is explained.
Before closing this preface, it is my great pleasure to thank all those who
contributedto this conference becoming a success.Besides the authors and pre-
senters these are all the unnamed hands working behind the scene, be it in the
organization,inthe publishing process,orinfundraising.Thehighestworkload
amongthemrestsofcoursewiththeGeneralChair,IraDiethelm.Mythanksgo
alsotoallthosemembersofthePCaswellastoadditionalreviewerssolicitedby
them who carefully read the papers. Special thanks to those who wrote reports
thatallowedauthorsto improvetheir submissions.Specialthanks arealsotobe
given to Jannik Arndt and Annette Lippitsch for helping with the proceedings.
December 2012 Roland Mittermeir
References
1. Clark, M.A.C., Boyle, R.D.: Computer Science in English High Schools: We Lost
theS,NowtheCIsGoing.In:Mittermeir,R.T.(ed.)ISSEP2006.LNCS,vol.4226,
pp.83–93. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)
2. Wing, J.M.: Computational thinking.Comm. ACM 49(3), 33–35 (2006)
3. Diethelm,I.,Du¨nnebier,M.,Syrbe,J.(eds.):InformaticsinSchools–LocalProceed-
ingsofthe6thInternationalConferenceISSEP2013–SelectedPapers,Commentarii
informaticae didacticae. Universit¨atsverlag Potsdam, Germany (2013)
Conference Organization
Program Committee
Torsten Brinda Universita¨t Duisburg-Essen, Germany
Valentina Dagiene Vilnius University, Lithuania
Ira Diethelm Carl von Ossietzky Universita¨t Oldenburg,
Germany
Malte Du¨nnebier Carl von Ossietzky Universita¨t Oldenburg,
Germany
David Ginat Tel Aviv University, Israel
Nataˇsa Grgurina University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Juraj Hromkovic ETH Zu¨rich, Switzerland
Peter Hubwieser Technische Universit¨at Mu¨nchen, TUM School
of Education, Germany
Ivan Kalaˇs Comenius University, Bratislava,Slovak
Republic
Susumu Kanemune Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, Japan
Maria Knobelsdorf Technische Universit¨at Dortmund, Germany
Robert McCartney University of Connecticut, USA
Roland Mittermeir Alpen-Adria Universita¨t Klagenfurt, Austria
Viera Proulx Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
Ralf Romeike Universita¨t Potsdam, Germany
Sigrid Schubert Universita¨t Siegen, Germany
Carsten Schulte Freie Universita¨t Berlin, Germany
Jenny Sendova Institute of Mathematics and Informatics,
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia,
Bulgaria
Simon University of Newcastle, Australia
Jo¨rn Syrbe Carl von Ossietzky Universita¨t Oldenburg,
Germany
Maciej Syslo Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun´ and
University of Wroclav, Poland
Jan Vahrenhold Technische Universita¨t Dortmund, Germany
Tom Verhoeff Eindhoven University of Technology,
The Netherlands
X Conference Organization
Organizing Committee
CarlvonOssietzkyUniversita¨tOldenburg,Departmentof Computing Science –
Computer Science Education
Ira Diethelm (Chair) Claudia Hildebrandt
Jannik Arndt Yuliya Meijer
Christian Borowski Ana-Maria Mesaro¸s
Marion Bramkamp Jo¨rn Syrbe
Marius Deh´e Manuela Wu¨stefeld
Malte Du¨nnebier
Additional Reviewers
Derzhanski, Ivan Nishida, Tomohiro
Hofuku, Yayoi Nobe, Midori
Kabatova, Martina Tani, Seiichi
Kamada, Toshiyuki Thies, Renate
Manev, Krassimir Tomcs´anyi, Peter
Maneva, Neli Winczer, Michal
Nakano, Yoshiaki
Table of Contents
Keynotes
The Darmstadt Model: A First Step towards a Research Framework
for Computer Science Education in Schools.......................... 1
Peter Hubwieser
Computer Science in Secondary Schools in the UK: Ways to Empower
Teachers ........................................................ 15
Sue Sentance, Mark Dorling, and Adam McNicol
From Computer Usage to Computational Thinking
Informatics in the French Secondary Curricula: Recent Moves
and Perspectives................................................. 31
Franc¸oise Tort and B´eatrice Drot-Delange
Informatics for All High School Students: A Computational Thinking
Approach ....................................................... 43
Maciej M. Sysl(cid:2)o and Anna Beata Kwiatkowska
Algorithmic and Computational Thinking
Novice Difficulties with Interleaved Pattern Composition.............. 57
David Ginat, Eti Menashe, and Amal Taya
Blind Pupils Begin to Solve Algorithmic Problems ................... 68
L’udmila Jaˇskov´a
Games
Location-BasedGames in Informatics Education ..................... 80
Gabriela Lova´szov´a and Viera Palm´arov´a
Using Computer Games as Programming Assignments for University
Students and Secondary School Pupils.............................. 91
Monika Tomcsa´nyiov´a
Informatics in the Context of Other Disciplines
The Context-Based Approach IniK in Light of Situated and
Constructive Learning Theories.................................... 103
Maria Knobelsdorf and Josh Tenenberg