computer science education · conferences · research · teaching

Research to practice in the context of school computing education

Education researchers carry out research with the ultimate goal of improving the learning outcomes of learners. In my field, this relates to computing education in school, which is a relatively new offering compared to other more established disciplines. There is a lot to learn about how students and teachers learn and teach computing effectively. In… Continue reading Research to practice in the context of school computing education

computer science education · Computing At School · research · teachers · teaching

Situated Learning and Computing At School – new paper

I have recently published, with Simon Humphreys, a new paper on situated learning and teacher professional development in computing education, using Computing At School (CAS) as an example. This paper looks at situated learning and what it really means, and what Lave and Wenger (1991) meant by a community of practice. The term "community of… Continue reading Situated Learning and Computing At School – new paper

computer science education · research · teaching

Computing in the Curriculum: Identifying and responding to the challenges

In October 2017, I was awarded the BERA Public Engagement and Impact Award for work in computing education. To respond to the award, I wrote this short article, which was published in BERA's termly magazine, Research Intelligence, Spring 2018. Every time we turn on the TV or radio we hear of a new innovation in… Continue reading Computing in the Curriculum: Identifying and responding to the challenges

computer science education · GCSE · pedagogy · research · teachers · teaching

GCSE computer science – can we look at “why” before we talk about “hard”

Today the latest TRACER report from Peter Kemp and colleagues was published. It's excellent that the team have done so much digging into the data to be able to contrast different groups and show us where students are likely to be taking GCSE computer science and A Level. Some good news: "Increasing numbers of schools… Continue reading GCSE computer science – can we look at “why” before we talk about “hard”

computational thinking · computer science education · programming · research · teaching

New book on computer science education!

Computer Science Education: Perspectives on Learning and Teaching at School is a new book edited by Sue Sentance, together with Carsten Schulte, University of Padeborn and Erk Barendsen, Radboud University, Nijmegen. Bringing together international experts in the field of computer science education in school this book will be useful both for students studying to become computing… Continue reading New book on computer science education!

computer science education · pedagogy · research · teaching

‘Coding’ in School? Research Needed to make Computing Accessible to All Children

This post has been reproduced from the Social Science Space Blog published in January 2018: https://www.socialsciencespace.com/2018/01/coding-school-research-needed-computing-accessible-children/ Coding. It's the new ‘must have’ skill - there are opportunities for us to learn this everywhere, with online courses, workshops, books and magazines abounding.  In school, coding has also become a focus. When computing replaced ICT as part of… Continue reading ‘Coding’ in School? Research Needed to make Computing Accessible to All Children

computer science education · concepts · micro:bit · pedagogy · programming · teachers · teaching

IT and Computing education in Guyana

Guyana is a small country (size of UK) in the north of South America bordering Venezuela, Brazil and Suriname. However in many ways it associates itself with the Caribbean - for example, students take Caribbean GCSEs - called the CSEC.  In terms of computing in school, students can take the CSEC in IT and this… Continue reading IT and Computing education in Guyana

computer science education · pedagogy · research · teachers · teaching · Uncategorized

A continuum of scaffolding: from copying code to tinkering

Jane Waite, of King's College London & Queen Mary University of London, is researching ways of teaching programming, with the ultimate goal of supporting primary teachers teaching programming. In this post Jane describes a continuum of programming that she uses in training with primary teachers (CAS London run a number of Diving Deep courses in… Continue reading A continuum of scaffolding: from copying code to tinkering