1. ViS:AT Abteilung IT/3 – Systems for Educational Purposes Using educational programming language to enhance teaching in computer science Dr. David Smith, Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, the Arts and Culture

2. ViS:AT Abteilung IT/3 – Systems for Educational Purposes Setting the Scene  The integration of technology into classroom practice remains a critical goal yet …  Computer programming can be a difficult and abstract concept for school children  Traditional classroom practices contribute to the disenfranchisement of students’ willingness to learn  Current research shows that less women are entering Information Technology professional careers  These are critical issues to be addressed in education…

3. ViS:AT Abteilung IT/3 – Systems for Educational Purposes pSkills Introduced  The pSkills project is a consortium made up of seven partners across Europe, drawn from school and tertiary education as well as education providers  Teachers (as the primary group) and students (as the secondary group) from Austria, Estonia, Italy and Greece will take part in this project.  The pSkills project aims to utilise games based programming within a pedagogical framework to develop training material and learning scenarios for use in schools

4. ViS:AT Abteilung IT/3 – Systems for Educational Purposes Pre Scenario Implementation Teacher Training Student Curriculum Classroom Practice Evaluate Responses for project dynamic Assess & Plan Training Frameworks/material Learning Scenario Develop

5. ViS:AT Abteilung IT/3 – Systems for Educational Purposes Evaluation  The requirements to teach computer science were obtained and the university courses were examined for their computer programming content  A documentary analysis of the compulsory computer science curriculum for the four test countries was undertaken and mapped to the IFIP curriculum  A survey about classroom practice, examining classroom dynamics, use of group work and the use of Educational Programming Languages (EPL) was given to computer science teachers from the four countries

6. ViS:AT Abteilung IT/3 – Systems for Educational Purposes Assess and Plan  All computer science teachers are required to have computer science qualifications-one anomaly  The documentary analysis showed that ICT literacy was well taught but many elements of programming were not  The survey of classroom teachers showed that teachers were open to new learning approaches and the introduction of an educational programming language

7. ViS:AT Abteilung IT/3 – Systems for Educational Purposes Develop  As a result of the evaluation the project consortium moved to ;  Select an appropriate EPL according to specific criteria  create a training network supported by a series of specifically designed training materials and a web- repository that would also double as a communication platform  Develop a series of learning scenarios utilising the selected EPL and underpinned by pedagogical constructs

8. ViS:AT Abteilung IT/3 – Systems for Educational Purposes EPL Active Development Community Stable VersionAge Range Support- Languages, Localisation Operating System Support SCRATCH and SQUEAK eTOYS were selected according to

9. ViS:AT Abteilung IT/3 – Systems for Educational Purposes Training Framework  Representation of knowledge: how to create learning designs with software development tools  Representation of practice: best practice examples of pedagogically driven use of educational software  Technical aspects: using software resources and tools developed by the project  Approaches to learning and teaching practices based on collaboration, problem solving and inquiry based approaches  Supported by a comprehensive repository and communication platform

10. ViS:AT Abteilung IT/3 – Systems for Educational Purposes Learning Scenario Adapted from Bereiter & Scardamalia, 2005

11. ViS:AT Abteilung IT/3 – Systems for Educational Purposes Planned Implementation  The commencement of the training framework in Austria, Estonia, Italy and Greece will take place over the next three months  The implementation of the learning scenarios will accour in two phases to allow for refinement of the scenario material  There have already been some pilots testing teacher training material and some learning scenarios  The project will culminate with a summer school but the MOLE platform will continue as will the exploitation of the project outcomes

12. ViS:AT Abteilung IT/3 – Systems for Educational Purposes Presented on behalf of  Dr. Petros Lameras Ellinogermaniki Agogi  Mr Nektarios Moumoutzis Technical University of Crete (pSkills Project Coordinator)