Open Conference Systems, 11th DATTArc-ICTE-TENZ-ITEEA 2022

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Jumpstarting primary school teacher confidence to teach computational thinking using digital technologies
Matt Bower, Jennifer Wing Man Lai, Anja Augsdoerfer

Building: BUILDING C
Room: Breakout Room C617 ♣︎
Date: 2022-12-09 01:25 PM – 02:00 PM
Last modified: 2022-12-08

Abstract


There is a mandate in many countries for primary school teachers to learn how to integrate Computational Thinking and digital technologies into the curriculum, which in turn requires that teachers have the knowledge and skills to do so. This study examines the development and maintenance of confidence to integrate computational thinking and digital technologies into the curriculum for 124 primary school teachers based on a Digital Technologies Jumpstarter workshop. Findings suggest that the two-hour workshop involving hands-on computational thinking workstations including Bluebots, Makey Makeys, Scratch, WeDo 2.0, Microbits and other contemporary tools was able to signifcantly improve teacher confidence to integrate computational thinking and digital technologies into the curriculum. Additionally, longitudinal data collected 6 weeks after the workshops indicated that the confidence of the 45 teachers who implemented a computational thinking lesson in their classes was sustained over the duration. This study indicates that, with appropriate professional development the confidence of primary school teachers to teach computational thinking using digital technologies is reasonably malleable, and with encouragement to apply their learning in their classes, that increase in confidence can be sustained over time.


Keywords


digital technologies, computational thinking, teacher education

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