关键词:
Computer science education
secondary school
teacher professional development
formal learning environments
curriculum development
research practice partnership
摘要:
Context Introducing Computer Science (CS) into formal education can be challenging, notably when considering the numerous stakeholders involvedwhich include the students, teachers, schools, and policy makers. We believe these perspectives should be considered conjointly, which is possible within Research Practice Partnerships (RPPs). RPPs look to bridge research-practice gaps and have seen an increase in the field of education and CS-education. Unfortunately, RPPs are considered to be under-researched, in addition to presenting their own challenges. Objectives To the purpose of assessing how RPPs may support the successful introduction of CS into formal education, we investigate three perspectives (students, teachers, and RPP stakeholders) and their interplay within the context of a multi-institution RPP conducting a pilot program to introduce CS to secondary school students. Methods A mixed methods analysis was employed to triangulate data in a concurrent triangulation design. The data included (i) three surveys distributed over the semester to 106 grade 9 students (ages 12-14), (ii) four teacher-journals, (iii) two interviews and four focus groups with the teachers and representatives of the partner institutions. Findings From the students' perspective, while their self-efficacy increased, their motivation decreased throughout the semester due to a miss-match between their expectations and the course. The findings also indicate that gender biases and heterogeneity are already present in grade 9. From the teachers' perspective, co-constructing the study plan, having access to regular support and collaborating within a community of practice when starting to teach CS all facilitated the teachers' experience. Finally, from the RPP's perspective the collaboration between stakeholders and having researchers evaluate the program were considered to be key elements in the pilot program. However, there appears to be a research-practice gap, in large part due to limited inte