When research learns from teachers!

PhD Student: Mara SaeliPromoter: Prof. Wim JochemsPromoter: Prof. Bert ZwaneveldSupervisor: Dr. Jacob Perrenet

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Technical University of Eindhoven:

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Table of Contents

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Mara Saeli - Learning from teachers 5

Average days per

year in school:

200 days!

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Mara Saeli - Learning from teachers 7

SUMMARIZING

Teachers’ knowledge includes:

• Students• Topics to teach• Teaching methods• and of course much more

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Mara Saeli - Learning from teachers 9

Pedagogical Content Knoweldge

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PCK

Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) is a concept introduced by Shulman and it is defined as:

“The ways of representing and formulating the subject that make it comprehensible to others (Shulman, 1986, p.9)”

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Mara Saeli - Learning from teachers 12

PCK

Three kinds of PCK:

• Personal PCK

• General PCK

• Material PCK

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Pedagogical Content Knoweldge

of

Programming

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Research Question

What is the general PCK of Programming in the sense of Software Development, and to what extend is it present in today’s Dutch secondary level educational practice?

Sub-Research Questions• Which general PCK, described in the literature, can be

considered relevant for the secondary level Programming Education?

• What are the characteristics of general PCK of secondary Programming Education?

• How can the personal PCK of Programming be measured?

• What is the personal PCK of Programming of Dutch CS teachers?

Discovering the

Pedagogical Content

Knowledge of Programming

Uncovering

Two Instruments:

• CoRe: Content Representation

• PaP-eRs: Pedagogical and Professional Repertoire

CoRe (Content Representation)

BIG IDEAS

These "ideas" refer to the topics that teachers consider to be at the heart of understanding the topic. Without these topics students cannot learn to program.

Example: Variables, Functions, etc.

CoRe (Content Representation)

QUESTIONS:

• What do you intend the students to learn about this idea?• Why is it important for the student to know this idea?• What else you might know about this idea (that you don't

intend students to know yet)?• What are difficulties/ limitations connected with the

teaching of this idea?• What do you think students need to know in order for

them to learn this concept ?• Which other factors influence your teaching of this idea?• What are teaching procedures (and particular reasons for

using these to engage with this idea)?• What are your specific ways of ascertaining students

understanding or confusion around this idea?

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SUMMARIZING:

• what are the reasons to teach this topic?

• what are the concepts we need to teach it?

• what are the most common difficulties/misconceptions students encounter while learning this topic?

• and how to teach this topic?

WORKSHOPS

Workshops intended for experienced teachers who by participating to this workshop will have the oppportunity to communicate with other computer science teachers and spend some time to reflect on their own teaching practices.

CoRe (Content Representation)

PaP-eRs (Pedagogical and Professional Repertoire)

PaP-eRs are intended to represent the teachers’ reasoning (the thinking and actions) of Informatics teachers with developed PCK in teaching a specific aspect of Programming.

PaP-eRs (Pedagogical and Professional Repertoire)

PaP-eRs are obtained by class

observations and interviews with single

teachers.

FIRST PRELIMINARY RESULTS

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THE FOUR QUESTIONS:

• what are the reasons to teach programming?

• what are the concepts we need to teach it?

• what are the most common difficulties/misconceptions students encounter while learning to program?

• and how to teach programming?

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First Results: 1Q

What are the reasons to teach programming?

• problem solving skills and offering the students a subject which includes aspects of different disciplines (alfa, beta and gamma).

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First results: 2QWhat are the concepts we need to

teach it?

• (alfa aspect) programming knowledge, which refers to the knowledge of the data, instructions and syntax of a programming language;

• (beta aspects) programming strategies, identifying the way in which the syntax is used to create programs to solve problems;

• (gamma aspect) programming sustainability: which refers to the ability to create user friendly and attractive program/software that takes care of ethical and privacy issues.

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First results: 3Q

what are the most common difficulties/ misconceptions students encounter while learning to program?

• These difficulties can be of a more generic nature (e.g. a general problem of orientation, paradigm shift, tendency to converse with a computer as if it was a human) or of a more specific nature (e.g. the conflation object/variable that decides which characteristics of an object should be considered).

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First results: 4Q

How to teach this topic?

• Discussion about the teaching methods, such as possible and effective teaching sequences; common misconceptions; and difficulties students report.

NEEDS

We need to learn more from teachers to

better understand the Pedagogical

Content Knowledge of Programming.

WORKSHOPS

If you would like to take part in one

of my workshops, please ask me

now (or later)!

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