A significant gender gap continues to exist within computer science (CS) education, despite nationwide emphasis in the U.S. on improving CS education equity and access. To explore this issue, we conducted an ethnographic case study within a classroom at Forest View High School (FVHS, pseudonym) where girls' participation in CS was consistently…

A national curriculum for the study of computing became compulsory in English secondary schools in September 2014, replacing the study of information and communications technology with computer science (CS). This posed difficulties for teachers and students who did not have knowledge or experience of programming. This study was designed to…

This study explores the impact of robotics activities on the creativity and problem-solving performances of secondary school students. The participants consisted of 10 students from a computer science class at a secondary school. The robotics activities utilized Lego Ev3 kits and incorporated reverse engineering principles. Data were gathered…

A context-based approach to education aims to improve students' meaningful learning and uses authentic situations in which scientific concepts are applied. The use of contexts may contribute to the learning of abstract concepts such as algorithms. The selection of appropriate contexts, however, is challenging for teachers. It is therefore…

The purpose of the current study was to explore the effect of modality (constructionist mBlock, Scratch, and Python interventions) on six-grade students' computational thinking, programming attitude, and achievement. The pre-test and post-test quasi-experimental design was used to explore the research questions. The study group consisted of 105…

Given the increasing needs of employees with computational skills, understanding the core competencies of K-12 computer science (CS) education is vital. This phenomenological research aims to identify critical factors of CS education in K-12 schools from the perspectives and visions of CS faculties in higher education and teachers in K-12 schools.…

With the increasing need for the incorporation of computer science (CS) concepts into elementary and secondary education, it is imperative that the teaching workforce is adequately prepared to ensure that instruction in CS is robust, relevant, and aligned with appropriate learning standards, where appropriate. This paper shares results from a…

Current research has not fully explored how summer programming camps can help students increase motivation and interest to pursue computing career, and their programming knowledge. Informal CS education through summer programming camps provides K-12 students the opportunity to learn how to code through fun and interactive activities outside of…

Emotions play a crucial role in knowledge acquisition and can significantly impact motivation when studying a new field. Unfortunately, young people, especially girls, are often not drawn to Computer Science. To address this issue, we conducted an analysis of emotions among 8-9-year-old and 12-13-year-old students engaged in Computational Thinking…

This study compares computational thinking skills evidenced by two groups of students in two different secondary schools: one group per school was studying a qualification in Computer Science. The aim was to establish which elements of computational thinking were more prevalent in students studying Computer Science to a higher level. This in turn…

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…

Although teachers need to assess computational thinking (CT) for computer science education in K-12, it is not easy for them to evaluate students' programs based on the perspective. The purpose of this study was to investigate students' CT skills reflected in their Scratch programs. The context of the study was a middle school coding club where…

Computational Thinking has been described as an essential skill which everyone should learn and can therefore include in their skill set. Seymour Papert (Papert, 1980) is credited as concretising Computational Thinking in 1980 but Jeanette Wing (Wing, 2006) popularised the term in 2006 and brought it to the international community's attention.…

This paper reports on the findings of a Design-Based Research (DBR) study that investigated the transformative learning of six high school computer science teachers after they participated in a professional development (PD) training with a focus on Culturally Responsive Computing (CRC). Findings from the statistical analysis of pre-and…

Although many practicing teachers have not experienced teacher preparation programs that teach cyber security (Pusely & Sadera, 2011) or are familiar with cyber principles (Authors), embedding these ideas into instruction in a variety of content areas is essential for promoting cyber literacy and citizenship. This study explores a professional…