There is substantial evidence that incorporating interactive environments for game-based instruction has a significant potential to support the development of computational thinking and programming skills in primary education students. However, it is not clear whether a simulation game (SG) with different user interface elements, created via…

This paper presents an innovative educational approach to organizing the out-of-school teaching of programming in middle childhood. The proposed DGBL model includes three distinct educational phases, i.e. learning visual programming, programming and robotics, and programming and electronics. The research was carried out during the school years of…

Digital literacy is considered to be crucial for social and professional participation. Hence, several projects have been launched in school, as well as extracurricular activities to promote digital literacy in middle school. They aim, among other things, to increase interest in the so-called STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and…

The activities of the students during the summer holidays, learning losses or the forgetfulness of the return of the holidays have been discussed in the educational sciences for a long time. However, very little research is being done and has little place in educational policies. This is especially important in applications and continuity courses…

This longitudinal study investigates the impact of an extra-curricular programming workshop in student interest development in computer science. The workshop was targeted at 12-18-year old youngsters. A survey was sent to all previous participants with a known home address; 31.5% responded the survey (n = 197). This data was then combined with…

Short-term outreach interventions are conducted to raise young students' awareness of the computer science (CS) field. Typically, these interventions are targeted at K--12 students, attempting to encourage them to study CS in higher education. This study is based on a series of extra-curricular outreach events that introduced students to the…

This article deals with some aspects of studying Informatics in Russian schools. Those aspects are part of the "third dimension" of the Darmstadt model (they are also projected on the other two dimensions of this model) and include evolution of the subject, regulatory norms conforming to the Federal Educational Standards, the learning…