Background: In the context of large-scale educational assessments, the effort required to code open-ended text responses is considerably more expensive and time-consuming than the evaluation of multiple-choice responses because it requires trained personnel and long manual coding sessions. Aim: Our semi-supervised coding method eco (exploring…

Background: The present study analyses the design of programming literacy in the sixth grade of Primary Education, starting from the use of simple activities with visual block-based programming, through "Scratch," and progressively linking difficulty to the use of the "Unity" engine, and the "C#" language, with simple…

Background: Today, computational thinking (CT), which is considered to be a form of literacy, has taken its place in the ICT curriculum of many countries at the K-12 level. Therefore, there is a need for more evidence with regards to a theoretical and practical understanding of CT skills' development of K-12 students. Objectives: The purpose of…

Background: Formative assessments are needed to enable monitoring how student knowledge develops throughout a unit. Constructed response items which require learners to formulate their own free-text responses are well suited for testing their active knowledge. However, assessing such constructed responses in an automated fashion is a complex task…

Recent government moves in many countries have seen coding included in school curricula, or promoted as part of computing, mathematics or science programmes. While these moves have generally been associated with a need to engage more young people in technology study, research has hinted at possible benefits from learning to program including…