In this paper, we finish describing the project and the experimentation of "Ricerca Operativa Applicazioni Reali" (ROAR; in English, Real Applications of Operations Research), a three-year project for higher secondary schools. ROAR is composed of three teaching units addressed to grades 10, 11, and 12, respectively. To improve students'…

This research aimed to develop and evaluate a gamified learning game using the Kid-Bright board to teach introductory coding skills for controlling lamps and fans to 12th-grade students. The study employed a mixed-methods approach, involving the design and development of the game based on gamification principles, followed by an evaluation by three…

This study analyses the Computer Science (CS) curricula for grades 9 and 10 in Nepal, emphasising students' interests and needs within the social context. The study applied the mixed-methods research design. The quantitative data were collected from questionnaire surveys with students and teachers. The qualitative information was collected from…

Background and Context: Understanding the effects of learner characteristics and perceived learning environment on achievement in academic fields including Computer Science (CS) is of critical importance. Objective: This study aimed at testing a hypothesized model of achievement in CS in terms of the learner and the learning environment…

In recent years, schools (as well as universities) have added cyber security to their computer science curricula. This topic is still new for most of the current teachers, who would normally have a standard computer science background. Therefore the teachers are trained and then teaching their students what they have just learned. In order to…

This article describes the state of informatics education in the Italian secondary schools, highlighting how the learning objectives set up by the Ministry of Education are difficult to meet, due to the fact that the subject is often taught by teachers not holding an informatics degree, the lack of suitable teaching material and the expectations…

This study was conducted with the purpose of analyzing high school students' approach to problem solving activities, namely the metacognitive abilities and the strategies they employ. The results show that although students apply basic strategies well, they use a trial-and-error approach, they give-up when faced with difficulties and have…

Computer Science formal education brings together old-timers from two computer-literate cultures. The curriculum is oriented toward the academic community, whose interest is in the abstraction, solution, and proofs of algorithmic problems, whereas many students are technology users, whose main interest is the manipulation of the products of…

This study explores how female students compare learning computer technology in a single- versus a mixed- gender school setting. Twelve females participated, all of whom were enrolled in a grade 12 course in Communications' Technology. Data collection included a questionnaire, a semi-structured interview and focus groups. Participants described…

An exploration of how year 12 students in a New Zealand high school make meaning of their experiences of different specialist IT (information technology) courses shows that gender identity is a potent factor in their experiences. At a personal level, individual students, males and females, construe their experiences of CPS (computer studies) and…