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

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…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)