Teachers’ understanding of programming and computational thinking in primary education – A critical need for professional development

Q4 Social Sciences Acta Didactica Norden Pub Date : 2022-12-21 DOI:10.5617/adno.9194
Reiar Kravik, Tonje K. Berg, Fazilat Siddiq
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引用次数: 2

Abstract

Programming and computational thinking have (re)gained an increased focus in com­pulsory education worldwide, consequently demanding teachers of various subjects to engage in the teaching and learning of the two. A recent curriculum reform in Norway emphasised the development of students’ computational skills by integrating pro­gramming into four subject domains: mathematics, natural science, music, and arts and crafts. However, these requirements come without a necessary professional develop­ment programme and are based on the presumption that all concerned teachers under­stand the concepts of programming and computational thinking and know how to teach these skills in a sound pedagogical and didactical way. Therefore, this study investigated how teachers understand programming and computational thinking and the relationship between the two concepts. We also investigated the teachers’ approaches to teaching these concepts and their need for further professional development. To address these issues, we conducted semi-structured interviews with eight primary school teachers and thematically analysed the data. Overall, the teachers reported positive attitudes towards the new curriculum and its focus on 21st-century skills, including programming and computational thinking. However, their understanding of these concepts was narrow, focused on only one of the six pertinent subskills: algorithms. Furthermore, the teachers’ teaching approaches were limited. Finally, we observed a variety of professional development processes and practices. The teachers accentuated a critical need for pro­fessional development within these domains. Our findings showed that to fulfil the curricular expectations of developing students’ computational thinking skills, increased training of primary school teachers is needed.
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小学教师对编程和计算思维的理解——专业发展的关键需求
编程和计算思维在世界各地的基础教育中越来越受到关注,因此要求不同学科的教师参与这两者的教学。挪威最近的一项课程改革强调了学生计算技能的发展,将编程整合到四个学科领域:数学、自然科学、音乐和工艺美术。然而,这些要求没有必要的专业发展计划,而是基于这样一种假设,即所有相关教师都了解编程和计算思维的概念,并知道如何以合理的教学和教学方式教授这些技能。因此,本研究调查了教师如何理解程序设计和计算思维,以及这两个概念之间的关系。我们还调查了教师教授这些概念的方法以及他们进一步专业发展的需求。为了解决这些问题,我们对八名小学教师进行了半结构化访谈,并对数据进行了主题分析。总的来说,教师们对新课程持积极态度,并强调21世纪的技能,包括编程和计算思维。然而,他们对这些概念的理解很狭隘,只关注六个相关子技能中的一个:算法。此外,教师的教学方法有限。最后,我们观察了各种专业发展过程和实践。教师们强调了在这些领域内专业发展的迫切需要。我们的研究结果表明,为了实现培养学生计算思维技能的课程期望,需要加强对小学教师的培训。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
Acta Didactica Norden
Acta Didactica Norden Social Sciences-Education
CiteScore
1.00
自引率
0.00%
发文量
39
审稿时长
16 weeks
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