THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2023/2024

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : Moray House School of Education and Sport : Education

Postgraduate Course: Subject Specialism: Computing Science (1) (EDUA11368)

Course Outline
SchoolMoray House School of Education and Sport CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits10 ECTS Credits5
SummaryThis course examines pedagogical approaches to computing science education in primary and secondary schools. It considers the progression of core concepts in computational thinking, and how to support learners' development of these using non-digital activities as well as appropriately designed programming environments.
Course description The purpose of the course is to provide students with pedagogical content knowledge for computing science at school level. It is based on contemporary research in computing science education, both empirical and theoretical. It starts from the premise that computational thinking should be accessible to all. Previous approaches to CSE have not been sufficiently inclusive, leading to the popular notion that computing is only for particular groups of people, and the marked gender imbalance in the technology industry. This course therefore examines a range of specific approaches to supporting all students to succeed, such as using non-computer based activities to aid understanding of underlying concepts, the initial focus on code reading rather than writing, the role of visual representations in programming, and the creating a supportive classroom environment.
The course is organised as 5 × 2 hour classes, group discussion and student presentations/demonstrations. Each week, students will be provided opportunities to discuss and share different perspectives on course material and related issues. They will reflect on how the course reading relates to their site-based learning experiences.
Indicative topics include: computational thinking; the international context, Scottish computational thinking curriculum framework; supporting the development of programming skills; key misconceptions and inclusion.
This course is followed by Computer Science Education (2) which focuses more on assessment and details of the SQA awards for this subject.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Determine appropriate, original and creative pedagogical and assessment approaches for different stages of learners in computer science.
  2. Skilfully use a range of non-digital and educational computing environments to support the development of computational thinking skills
  3. Apply critical analysis, evaluation and synthesis of results in computer science education research to inform their teaching
  4. Use their awareness of inclusion to ensure that female and minority students can thrive in their classrooms
  5. Analyse their learning on this course in relation to relevant core concepts of social justice, sustainability, global perspectives, digital and statistical literacies and professional inquiry skills.
Reading List
INDICATIVE TEXTS:
Grover, S., & Pea, R. (2013). Computational Thinking in K-12: A Review of the State of the Field. Educational Researcher, 42(1), 38:43. doi:10.3102/0013189X12463051

Grover, S., Cooper, S., & Pea, R. (2014). Assessing computational learning in K-12. Proceedings of the 2014 Conference on Innovation & Technology in Computer Science Education - ITiCSE :14, (June), 57-62. doi:10.1145/2591708.2591713

Guzdial, M. (2016) Learner-Centered Design of Computing Education: Research on Computing for Everyone. Morgan Claypool Publishers.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Students will have the ability to:
Support learners in the development of computational thinking skills
Critically examine current research on computer science education and reflect on how this can be applied to their teaching
Critically evaluate new and emerging educational hardware and software

Keywordscomputing science,teacher education
Contacts
Course organiserProf Judy Robertson
Tel: (0131 6)51 6249
Email: judy.robertson@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMrs Melania Chaverri Coto
Tel: (0131 6)51 6210
Email: mchaverr@ed.ac.uk
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