Various theories and models discuss how instructional designers can develop systems that allow learners to engage in problem-solving. To date, many of these theories and models that guide design often describe how learners engage in meaning-making within a situated context; however, they do not address strategies instructional designers can use to…

The advancement of large language model-based generative artificial intelligence (LLM-based GenAI) has sparked significant interest in its potential to address challenges in computational thinking (CT) education. CT, a critical problem-solving approach in the digital age, encompasses elements such as abstraction, iteration, and generalisation.…

One hundred years ago, Paul Weiss and Ludwig von Bertalanffy independently proposed that living organisms interact with their environment through systems. In the century that has followed, systems thinking and modeling have grown in tandem with discovery of the vast complexity of the universe at microscopic through astronomic levels. As our…

This paper reviews algorithmic or artificial intelligence (AI) bias in education technology, especially through the lenses of speculative fiction, speculative and liberatory design. It discusses the causes of the bias and reviews literature on various ways that algorithmic/AI bias manifests in education and in communities that are underrepresented…

Despite the call for instructional designers to employ design thinking as a means to foster creativity in problem-solving, many students struggle with enacting creative risk. While several studies have been conducted studying how instructional designers engage in problem-solving to contend with project constraints, few have addressed whether this…

As schools endeavor to provide all students with access to computational thinking and computer science, the hackathon emerges as a competitive and high-energy event that uses authentic problems to motivate learners to engage in the domain of computing. This article presents the design case of a hackathon for teenagers as enacted over five…

Computational thinking is one of the skills critical for successfully solving problems posed in a technology driven and complex society. The limited opportunities in school settings to help students develop computational thinking skills underscores the need for helping teachers integrate it in their practices. Besides developing the knowledge of…

Developing students' 21st century skills, including creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving, has been a prevailing concern in our globalized and hyper-connected society. One of the key components for students to accomplish this is to take part in today's participatory culture, which involves becoming creators of knowledge rather than…

Design involves solving complex, ill-structured problems. Design tasks are consequently, appropriate contexts for children to exercise higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills. Although creating engaging and authentic design contexts for young children is difficult within the confines of traditional schooling, recently, game-design has…

The recent focus on computational thinking as a key 21st century skill for all students has led to a number of curriculum initiatives to embed it in K-12 classrooms. In this paper, we discuss the key computational thinking constructs, including algorithms, abstraction, and automation. We further discuss how these ideas are related to current…

To help satisfy the pressing need for technology-related professional development for in-service teachers, the Global Academic Essentials Teacher Institute (GAETI) was implemented to provide in-service foreign language and social studies teachers with content, pedagogy, and technology explorations centered on the teaching of the Common Core State…

Design-thinking is an inductive and participatory process in which designers are required to manage constraints, generate solutions, and follow project timelines in order to complete project goals. The researchers used this exploration study to look at how designers in various disciplinary fields approach design projects. Designers were asked to…

When preparing TPACK ready teacher candidates, faculty must incorporate and model TPACK within the teacher education curriculum, which often requires an ongoing change process. But for change to take place we must consider the role leadership plays in the innovation of change. Leaders, deans and department heads must be an integral part of this…

We report on the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of a case-based instructional environment designed for learning network engineering skills for cybersecurity. We describe the societal problem addressed, the theory-based solution, and the preliminary testing and evaluation of that solution. We identify an architecture for…

Just as objectivist theories have provided foundations for traditional tests, constructivist theories can offer foundations for performance assessment design and development methods. The tenets and principles embedded in various learning theories provide a solid foundation that can be combined with psychometric principles to help assessment…