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Informatics
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Promotion of Computational Thinking and Informatics Education in Pre-University Studies
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Promotion of Computational Thinking and Informatics Education in Pre-University Studies (Closed)

A topical collection in Informatics (ISSN 2227-9709).

Viewed by 23699

Editor

Prof. Dr. Francisco José García-Peñalvo

E-Mail Website
Collection Editor
Computer Science Department, Research Institute for Educational Sciences, GRIAL Research Group, University of Salamanca, Faculty of Sciences, Plaza de los Caídos S/N, 37008 Salamanca, Spain
Interests: STEM; computational thinking
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Topical Collection Information

Dear Colleageus,

Digital competence is a key competence proposed by the European Union. Having basic computer skills is a necessity in today's society, which adds to other basic knowledge, such as reading, writing, or performing arithmetic operations.

The development of any key non-transversal competence requires independent subjects with a mandatory character, such as Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, or Natural Sciences, for example.

Informatics constitutes a mixed discipline with elements of science and technology. Therefore, its learning requires an independent subject from others with which it has a relationship but whose contents are different, such as Mathematics or Technology. Moreover, this subject-based approach should be combined with other items from a pedagogical toolbox such as computational thinking.

Purpose of the collection

The purpose of this Special Issue is to help to identify good practices and/or particular concerns that may contribute to the development of computational thinking practices and curricular approaches to teach informatics at the different levels of pre-university studies, with a special emphasis on bringing with STEM reinforcement actions.

Prof. Dr. Francisco José García-Peñalvo
Collection Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the collection website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Informatics is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

 

Keywords

  • computational thinking
  • informatics education
  • STEM
  • pre-university studies
  • PBL
 

Published Papers (3 papers)

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2021

Jump to: 2019

15 pages, 1818 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of the Forms of Education of High School Students Using a Hybrid Model Based on Various Optimization Methods and a Neural Network
by Elena Petrovna Dogadina, Michael Viktorovich Smirnov, Aleksey Viktorovich Osipov and Stanislav Vadimovich Suvorov
Informatics 2021, 8(3), 46; https://doi.org/10.3390/informatics8030046 - 16 Jul 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2998
Abstract
This article deals with the multicriteria programming model to optimize the time of completing home assignments by school students in both in-class and online forms of teaching. To develop a solution, we defined 12 criteria influencing the school exercises’ effectiveness. In this amount, [...] Read more.
This article deals with the multicriteria programming model to optimize the time of completing home assignments by school students in both in-class and online forms of teaching. To develop a solution, we defined 12 criteria influencing the school exercises’ effectiveness. In this amount, five criteria describe exercises themselves and seven others the conditions at which the exercises are completed. We used these criteria to design a neural network, which output influences target function and the search for optimal values with three optimization techniques: backtracking search optimization algorithm (BSA), particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO), and genetic algorithm (GA). We propose to represent the findings for the optimal time to complete homework as a Pareto set. Full article
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2019

Jump to: 2021

12 pages, 266 KiB  
Article
Educational Robotics in Primary School: Measuring the Development of Computational Thinking Skills with the Bebras Tasks
by Giuseppe Chiazzese, Marco Arrigo, Antonella Chifari, Violetta Lonati and Crispino Tosto
Informatics 2019, 6(4), 43; https://doi.org/10.3390/informatics6040043 - 1 Oct 2019
Cited by 55 | Viewed by 9749
Abstract
Research has shown that educational robotics can be an effective tool to increase students’ acquisition of knowledge in the subjects of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and promote, at the same time, a progression in the development of computational thinking (CT) skills in [...] Read more.
Research has shown that educational robotics can be an effective tool to increase students’ acquisition of knowledge in the subjects of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and promote, at the same time, a progression in the development of computational thinking (CT) skills in K–12 (kindergarten to 12th grade) education. Within this research field, the present study first sought to assess the effect of a robotics laboratory on the acquisition of CT-related skills in primary school children. The study also aimed to compare the magnitude of the effect of the laboratory across third- and fourth-grade students. For the purpose of the study, a quasi-experimental post-test-only design was adopted, and a group of 51 students, from third- and fourth-grade classrooms, participating in the robotics laboratories, were compared to a control group of 32 students from classrooms of the same grades. A set of Bebras tasks was selected as an overall measure of CT skills and was administered to children in both the intervention and control groups. Overall, the results showed that programming robotics artefacts may exert a positive impact on students’ learning of computational thinking skills. Moreover, the effect of the intervention was found to be greater among third-grade children. Full article
20 pages, 2595 KiB  
Article
Computational Thinking and Down Syndrome: An Exploratory Study Using the KIBO Robot
by Carina S. González-González, Erika Herrera-González, Lorenzo Moreno-Ruiz, Nuria Reyes-Alonso, Selene Hernández-Morales, María D. Guzmán-Franco and Alfonso Infante-Moro
Informatics 2019, 6(2), 25; https://doi.org/10.3390/informatics6020025 - 20 Jun 2019
Cited by 37 | Viewed by 8617
Abstract
Computational thinking and coding are key competencies in the 21st century. People with Down syndrome need to be part of this new literacy. For this reason, in this work, we present an exploratory study carried out with students with Down syndrome with cognitive [...] Read more.
Computational thinking and coding are key competencies in the 21st century. People with Down syndrome need to be part of this new literacy. For this reason, in this work, we present an exploratory study carried out with students with Down syndrome with cognitive ages of 3–6 years old using a tangible robot We applied the observational method during the sessions to analyze the participants’ emotional states, engagement, and comprehension of the programming sequences. Results show that people with cognitive disabilities can acquire basic programming and computational skills using tangible robots such as KIBO. Full article
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