The article discusses the findings of longitudinal studies (three stages spanning 6 months) which were to investigate the process of acquiring the ability to comprehension program code by the computer science students having started to learn to program. The studies were conducted with the use of a knowledge measurement test, the diagnostic survey,…

The notion of algorithm may be perceived in different levels of abstraction. In the lower levels it is an operational set of instructions. In higher levels it may be viewed as an object with properties, solving a problem with characteristics. Novices mostly relate to the lower levels. Yet, higher levels are very relevant for them as well. We…

This paper investigates unplugged computing as a formal pedagogical strategy to teaching computing to a Maltese secondary class of Year 9 students. It aims at identifying the effectiveness of this pedagogy outlining the strengths and weaknesses in its application, taking into consideration the level of attainment for students, as well as the…

Each of the 16 federal states of Germany has its own school system and also its own policy to integrate informatics, computer science or ICT into this system. Till present there aren't any tests of students' knowledge on a nation-wide level. Therefore nation-wide or international contests currently offer the only opportunities to compare the…