Abstract
In order to introduce informatic concepts to students of Italian secondary schools, we devised a number of interactive workshops conceived for pupils aged 10–17. Each workshop is intended to give pupils the opportunity to explore a computer science topic: investigate it firsthand, make hypotheses that can then be tested in a guided context during the activity, and construct viable mental models. This paper reports about how we designed and conducted these workshops.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Begel, A., Garcia, D.D., Wolfman, S.A.: Kinesthetic learning in the classroom. In: Proc. of the 35th SIGCSE TSCSE, pp. 183–184. ACM, New York (2004), http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/971300.971367
Bell, T., Rosamond, F., Casey, N.: Computer science unplugged and related projects in math and computer science popularization. In: Bodlaender, H.L., Downey, R., Fomin, F.V., Marx, D. (eds.) Fellows Festschrift 2012. LNCS, vol. 7370, pp. 398–456. Springer, Heidelberg (2012), http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2344236.2344256
Ben-Ari, M.: Constructivism in computer science education. Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching 20(1), 45–73 (2001)
Bellettini, C., Lonati, V., Malchiodi, D., Monga, M., Morpurgo, A., Torelli, M.: Exploring the processing of formatted texts by a kynesthetic approach. In: Proc. of the 7th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education, WiPSCE 2012, pp. 143–144. ACM, New York (2012)
Bellettini, C., Lonati, V., Malchiodi, D., Monga, M., Morpurgo, A., Torelli, M.: What you see is what you have in mind: constructing mental models for formatted text processing. In: Diethelm, I., Arndt, J., Dünnebier, M., Syrbe, J. (eds.) Informatics in Schools ISSEP 2013 — Selected Papers, Commentarii Informaticae Didacticae, vol. 6, pp. 139–147. Universitätsverlag Postdam, Germany (2013)
Lonati, V., Monga, M., Morpurgo, A., Torelli, M.: What’s the fun in informatics? Working to capture children and teachers into the pleasure of computing. In: Kalaš, I., Mittermeir, R.T. (eds.) ISSEP 2011. LNCS, vol. 7013, pp. 213–224. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)
Curzon, P., McOwan, P.W., Cutts, Q.I., Bell, T.: Enthusing & inspiring with reusable kinaesthetic activities. In: Proc. of the 14th Annual ACM SIGCSE Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, ITiCSE 2009, pp. 94–98. ACM, New York (2009), http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1562877.1562911
De Vecchi, G., Carmona-Magnaldi, N.: Faire construire des savoirs (2ème ed.). Hachette Education, France (2003)
Giordan, A.: From constructivism to allosteric learning model. In: UNESCO Conference on Science Education 2000+ (1996), http://www.ldes.unige.ch/ang/publi/articles/unesco_AG_96/unesco96.htm
Hmelo-Silver, C.E.: Problem-based learning: What and how do students learn? Educational Psychology Review 16(3), 235–266 (2004)
Kolb, D.A., Boyatzis, R.E., Mainemelis, C., et al.: Experiential learning theory: Previous research and new directions. Perspectives on Thinking, Learning, and Cognitive Styles 1, 227–247 (2001)
Pattis, R.E.: Karel the Robot: A Gentle Introduction to the Art of Programming, 1st edn. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York (1981)
The CSTA Curriculum Improvement Task Force: The new educational imperative: Improving high school computer science education. Tech. rep., Computer Science Teachers Association (February 2005), http://csta.acm.org/Communications/sub/DocsPresentationFiles/White_Paper07_06.pdf
The Royal Society: Shut down or restart? The way forward for computing in UK schools (January 2012), http://royalsociety.org/education/policy/computing-in-schools/report/
Vygotsky, L.: Mind in Society: Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (1978)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
Bellettini, C. et al. (2014). Extracurricular Activities for Improving the Perception of Informatics in Secondary Schools. In: Gülbahar, Y., Karataş, E. (eds) Informatics in Schools. Teaching and Learning Perspectives. ISSEP 2014. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8730. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09958-3_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09958-3_15
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-09957-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-09958-3
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)