This study consists of a 17-year (2006-2021) systematic literature review on the effective instructional strategies for developing Computational Thinking (CT) in primary school students (K-5). The aim of this paper is to identify instructional strategies that have been implemented and evaluated by means of a pre- and post-test, with the aim of…

A majority of research in Computational Thinking (CT) mainly focuses on teaching coding to school students. However, CT involves more than just coding and includes other skills like algorithmic thinking. The current study developed an Online Inquiry-based Learning Platform for Computational Thinking (CT-ONLINQ) that follows Inquiry-Based Learning…

Computer Science Unplugged (CS-Unplugged) has been evolving in computer science education. It is a promising approach especially for introductory programming skills and computer science concepts. The skills of the computer science instructors/teachers, who convert the approach into practice, can be crucial during the preparation of CS-Unplugged…

Cybersecurity capabilities in organizations and governmental agencies continue to lag behind the threats. Given the current environment, these entities have placed renewed emphasis on cybersecurity education. However, education appears to lack its full potential in most settings. Few empirical studies have systematically tested the efficacy of…

Contribution: This article provides evidence on the effectiveness of game-based learning (GBL) for computer science education when using educational video games created by teachers using authoring tools. Background: Although teacher-oriented authoring tools for creating educational video games can help overcome the main barriers hampering the use…

In this paper, we discuss the need for new approaches to research regarding coding to support students in developing practices in computational thinking, such as abstraction and decomposition, in multidisciplinary contexts. We explore students' activities with a tool integrating constructionist textual programming activity with game-based learning…

Colleges and universities continue to expand their curricula to include cybersecurity as an explicit course of study in political science. But what is taught in a course on cybersecurity? Are syllabi deep dives into technology, broad romps through contemporary policy debates, or do they reflect a more varied disposition? Studying the syllabi of an…

Biology is a data-driven discipline facilitated greatly by computer programming skills. This article describes an introductory experiential programming activity that can be integrated into distance learning environments. Students are asked to develop their own Python programs to identify the nature of alleles linked to disease. This activity…

Providing consistent, individualized feedback to teachers is essential for improving instruction but can be prohibitively resource intensive in most educational contexts. We develop an automated tool based on natural language processing to give teachers feedback on their uptake of student contributions, a high-leverage teaching practice that…

Transdisciplinary learning environments have potential to bring together the arts, sciences, and computing within schools. We investigate the student and teacher enactment of sensemaking practices that break down disciplinary silos. We describe a pedagogical approach, Luminous Science, where students make dynamic, computationally-rich artistic…

Computational notebooks are an increasingly common tool used to support student learning in a variety of contexts where computer programming can be applied. These notebooks provide an easily distributable method of displaying text and images, as well as sections of computer code that can be manipulated and run in real-time. This format allows…

The teaching-learning methodology adopted in the Introduction to Computer Science classes may be a process that makes it difficult to understand the principles of programming language for undergraduate students in Computer Science and related areas, generating high failure and course drop out rates. This paper presents an analysis of the results…

This article concerns the synergy between science learning, understanding complexity, and computational thinking (CT), and their impact on near and far learning transfer. The potential relationship between computer-based model construction and knowledge transfer has yet to be explored. We studied middle school students who modeled systemic…

Background and Context: A key challenge in advancing computer science education in K-12 schools is teacher preparation and support. School-university partnerships and service-learning programs where undergraduates assist teachers represent one promising approach to supporting K-12 computer science teaching. Objectives: In this work, we examine the…

A design case is a form of scholarly writing in which the author embarks on a reflective journey sharing rich descriptions of their design, design processes, challenges, etc. This paper presents two design cases that demonstrate how learning theories and instructional design concepts were purposefully incorporated in two instructional applications…