Session 1 - Thursday 13:30 - 14:30
Dialog between different kinds of technologies
Author: Thierry Dana-Picard
In a technology-rich environment, the researcher/the educator may have his\her own choice, which technology to use for a given problem. Two or more than two kinds of technology may be used for studying a given problem. Their joint efficiency is conditioned by the dialog which can be established between them. We study different cases: sometimes two kinds of technology of different level collaborate, in other situations two kinds of software have to exchange data.
The Children's Congress 2019 at JKU Linz
Author: Sara Hinterplattner and Corinna Kröhn
The Children’s Congress is an event, developed to meet a demand for strengthening computational thinking and to increase the interest in STEAM subjects. This congress brings teachers, university students and pupils together to work interdisciplinary on real-life problems. During these proceedings, the pupils slip into the role of researchers and scientists. The Children’s Congress aims to inspire pupils, students and teachers to work with computational thinking, as well as promoting the concept of working in an inter- or transdisciplinary way. It is a core value of the Children’s Congress that the project should challenge and benefit everyone involved. This unique aim sets the event apart from other learning activities by focusing not only on the pupils but also on in-service training for the pupils’ teachers and for gifted students at the Johannes Kepler University in Linz. In this talk we will present the projects of the Children's Congress 2019 and discuss the evaluation.
BBC micro: bit Experiments – Spicing Up Computational Thinking Skills
Author: Oliver Kastner-Hauler
Co-Authors: Barbara Sabitzer, Karin Tengler
The single-board computer BBC micro: bit combined with block-based programming (aka visual coding) is strongly connected to Computational Thinking (CT). The CT tasks involved in solving micro: bit experiments can be categorized in well-agreed areas of CT, but a distinction between difficulty levels is still not clearly
visible. Where and how can the various levels of difficulty be found in every experiment? To answer these questions, some sensor experiments are thoroughly examined. The sub-tasks found can be categorized in the quadrants of CT (decomposition, patterns, abstraction and algorithmic thinking). A detailed description of the individual steps of the experiments and the underlying task competencies used leads to a simple classification and scoring system for CT levels. Further research for more action-oriented descriptions and classification of the proficiency levels in each quadrant of CT is under development. Building on Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy a Reference Framework for Computational Thinking Skills (RFCTS) is presented, to spot the difficulty levels in CT educational tasks at first glance.
Requirements for a mobile teaching case for the practical implementation of didactic goals of computer science teaching with help of a single board computer
Author: Jens Nothacker
In the first part of this paper, the didactic objectives and guidelines from the latest teaching plans of the different types of schools (schools, colleges, universities) in the D-A-CH regions are set out in terms of information technology and its detailed lessons with a qualitatively deductive meta-analysis, which can be implemented with a single board computer and compressed into a compendium of skills to be learned. In the second part of this work, a market analysis of single-board computers and existing learning packages containing single-board computers is carried out in order to evaluate the existing offerings according to different criteria. The third part of this paper analyses the results of the first and second parts. Teaching tasks are developed by combining the requirements of the analyses according to the developed digital didactic objectives with a combinatorial approach and with the theoretical COOL informatics principles with which the digital didactic content is based on part 1 can be conveyed. The contents of the mobile teaching case for computer science lessons are compiled based on the previously developed tasks and the required hardware parts. The results are a task book that follows the COOL informatics principles and the digital didactic objectives of the curricular, as well as a partial list of the contents of a mobile teaching case, which is designed differently based on the number of learners and the learning objectives to be taught. Finally, the fourth part of the planned work will determine whether the digital content can be conveyed accordingly with the developed suitcase and the developed task book. Success measurement is based on a survey/ examination before and/or after the lesson to assess the improvement of knowledge. The paper concludes with a conclusion and an outlook.
First Programming With Ozobots - A Creative Approach To Early Computer Science In Primary Education
Author: Karin Tengler
Co-Authors: Barbara Sabitzer, Oliver Kastner-Hauler
Basic digital education is becoming an important topic, also at primary level. Computational thinking is seen as one of the basic conditions for fostering students' problem-solving thinking skills in primary school. In the field of early computing education, however, there are no empirically founded competence models available yet. Nevertheless, experts agree that playful methods of programming, e.g. with robots, can foster computational thinking and creativity. Enhancing creativity is an important task in primary education and it is also one of the key skills required for 21st century learning.
First programming with Ozobots, which are small robots that can be programmed with color codes, is part of a research project of the University College for Teacher Education in Lower Austria. By using the method of lesson study, it will be investigated if aspects of creativity in programming Ozobots can be identified or differences between girls and boys can be determined.
The purpose of this presentation is to show how an introduction to programming with Ozobots in a child-friendly way can be successful at primary level. It will also be shown how computing education can be integrated in primary school. In addition, the first results of the lesson study research will be presented.
STEAM Education and Augmented Reality in the Training of Teachers of Primary Education
Author: Lilla Korenova
The rapid development of new technologies and the penetration of information technologies into all areas of human life have become the starting point for contemporary science and technology education at primary and secondary schools in the European Union. The educational process in the field of STEM can be significantly improved by means of mobile technologies, also using Augmented Reality (AR). It is a very topical question for teachers to use these technologies in education. In this paper we will point out the possibilities of effective use of mobile technologies with AR and research results, focused on the educational process of STEM in a constructionist environment with augmented reality applications at the Faculty of Education of Comenius University in Bratislava and Palacky University Olomouc.