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Preparing Primary School Teachers for Teaching Computational Thinking: A Systematic Review

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Learning Technologies and Systems (SETE 2020, ICWL 2020)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 12511))

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to systematically examine the existing literature on the teaching approaches and tools used to prepare primary school teachers to integrate computational thinking (CT) in their offering. In addition, the study considers perceptions of teachers towards teaching approaches for CT. Thirty (30) journal articles and conference proceedings that met the selection criteria were reviewed and thematically analysed. Teaching approaches and tools that have been used to train teachers on teaching CT in primary schools include unplugged computing, robotics, programming and game-based learning activities. Teachers’ perceptions toward the teaching approaches for integration of CT were positive and progressive after interventions. To support teachers, most studies introduced modules within teacher-education curriculum or a professional development course for in-service teachers. The results indicated that most of the integrations are done within mathematics and science classes. Also, coding remains a useful way to teach CT. To prepare teachers to teach CT concepts and skills, both pre-service and in-service teachers need to practice teaching those concepts in authentic contexts. The review highlights the need for research that addresses the developing country context and working context of teachers as teaching strategies would differ from the developed countries context which has dominated the current research done.

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Acknowledgements

Funding for this research was made possible by the National Research Foundation, CSIR, South Africa.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Informatics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

    Maria Ausiku & Machdel Matthee

Authors
  1. Maria Ausiku
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  2. Machdel Matthee
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Correspondence to Maria Ausiku .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Ningbo Institute of Industrial Technology, Ningbo, China

    Chaoyi Pang

  2. College of Computer Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Yunjun Gao

  3. Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia

    Guanliang Chen

  4. Faculty of Automation, Computers and Electronics, University of Craiova, Craiova, Romania

    Elvira Popescu

  5. Department of Physics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Lu Chen

  6. School of Computer Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China

    Tianyong Hao

  7. Zhejiang University, Ningbo, China

    Bailing Zhang

  8. Universidad Internacional De La Rioja, Logroño, Spain

    Silvia Margarita Baldiris Navarro

  9. Department of Computing, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    Qing Li

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Ausiku, M., Matthee, M. (2021). Preparing Primary School Teachers for Teaching Computational Thinking: A Systematic Review. In: Pang, C., et al. Learning Technologies and Systems. SETE ICWL 2020 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12511. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66906-5_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66906-5_19

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