The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to understand how K-8 teachers in Nevada describe computational concepts, practices, and perspectives preparation in making them ready to teach computer science. Brennan and Resnick's computational thinking served as the theoretical framework for this study. Four research questions guided this…

Computationally intensive science (CIS)-related disciplines and careers are predicted to be among the cutting-edge fields and high-demand jobs. Such disciplines and careers demand expertise in both traditional scientific knowledge and computer science (CS)-related understanding and skills. Preparing educational systems for developing interest and…

The purpose of this research is to examine Computational Thinking (CT) skills, Computer Programming Self-Efficacy (CPSE), and Computer Programming Attitude (CPA) of middle school students who took the Information Technologies & Software (IT&S) courses and those who did not, and make various analyses according to the relationships between…

"Building Computational Thinkers," a three-year research study, explored how educators and designers can most effectively support the development of computational thinking capacity, and how these learning experiences could be customized to meet the needs of different learners. This research study focused on three specific exhibit design…

The gender gap in computing has persisted--and grown--over the past 40 years. One class of solutions offered as a way to close the gap are software and hardware design tools created for girls. This study compares one such construction kit--the Adafruit Flora--to a comparable kit that was not designed with girls in mind--the Arduino Leonardo. Using…

Pedagogy has emphasized that physical representations and tangible interactive objects benefit learning especially for young students. There are many tangible hardware platforms for introducing computer programming to children, but there is limited comparative evaluation of them in the context of a formal classroom. In this work, we explore the…

Experience is necessary but not sufficient to cause girls to envision a future career in computing. This study investigated the experiences and attitudes of girls who had taken three years of mandatory computer science classes in an all-girls setting in middle school, measured at the end of eighth grade. The one third of participants who were open…

The focus of this research was to create and test an introductory computer science course for middle school. Titled "Foundations for Advancing Computational Thinking" (FACT), the course aims to prepare and motivate middle school learners for future engagement with algorithmic problem solving. FACT was also piloted as a seven-week course…

To broaden participation in computing we need to look beyond traditional domains of inquiry and expertise. We present results from a demonstration project in which interactive journalism was used to infuse computational thinking into the standard curriculum and regular classroom experience at a middle school with a diverse population. Outcomes…

These proceedings contain the papers of the International Conference e-Learning 2014, which was organised by the International Association for Development of the Information Society and is part of the Multi Conference on Computer Science and Information Systems (Lisbon, Portugal July 15-19, 2014). The e-Learning 2014 conference aims to address the…