New Publication: A Collaborative Model for K-12 Computing Education
We are thrilled to announce the publication of our latest research, "Supporting Teachers, Engaging Students: A Collaborative Model for K-12 Computing Education," in the Entertainment Computing journal.
The work shares our experience with the Batti il 5! national project, which aimed to strengthen computing skills in primary schools in the Mirafiori Sud district of Turin. In the paper, in particular, we address key challenges in integrating Computational Thinking (CT) into primary school curricula, such as teacher training and curriculum development. Through the design and evaluation of an introductory coding course for 4th-grade students—where children were guided to create a simple Scratch video game like the one shown in the figure—we explored how project-based learning and a collaborative approach involving experts, teachers, and high-school tutors can foster engaging and inclusive learning experiences.
Furthermore, we conducted a set of co-design sessions with four teachers participating in the coding course, during which we asked them to reflect on the needs, feelings, and challenges they experienced. Specifically, we challenged teachers to redesign a new video game for the course in an effort to increase their involvement in the experimental activities.
The figure, for example, shows a co-designed project in which teachers envisioned backgrounds and characters drawn by hand, along with a storytelling approach that helps students consolidate grammar topics, such as direct and reported speech.
We condensed all our findings into an educational model that allows K-12 teachers and computing experts to collaborate in the design and implementation of computing education courses that address CT engagingly, inclusively, and supportively.
Additional information: