Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

International Conference on Informatics in Secondary Schools - Evolution and Perspectives

ISSEP 2006: Informatics Education – The Bridge between Using and Understanding Computers pp 94–103Cite as

Teaching Computing in Secondary Schools in a Dynamic World: Challenges and Directions

  • Conference paper

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 4226))

Abstract

The field of computing is relatively young compared with other mature sciences, but it has been rapidly developing since its recognition as a stand-alone discipline. The dynamics of the field has led to its inadequate external image and posed challenges in educating newcomers. As a result, educators have been deliberating how to portray the field to others in a compelling way, and how to make computer science studies more appealing to prospective students. One main challenge for educators is to bridge the gap between school and the "real world" of computing. In this paper I discuss two major aspects of the existing gap that relate to (a) the perception of what computing is about, and (b) the educational milieu. I conclude with a description of computing programs, especially designed for high school, which have been in operation in Israel. The aim of the programs is to expose young students to scientific knowledge and the fundamentals of computing, and to motivate them to achieve expertise in this field.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. ACM/IEEE Joint Task Force on Computing Curricula, Software Engineering 2004 Curriculum Guidelines for Undergraduate Degree Programs in Software Engineering, A Volume of the Computing Curricula Series (August 2004)

    Google Scholar 

  2. The Ministry of Education, Israel, A high-school Software Engineering program (in Hebrew) (2004) (retrieved June 11, 2006), from: http://csit.org.il

  3. Ben-Ari, M.: Constructivism in computer science education. Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching 20(1), 45–73 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Ben-Ari, M.: Situated Learning in This High-Technology World. In: 7th International History, Philosophy and Science Teaching Conference, Winnipeg, Canada (2003); Journal edition published in Science & Education, 14(3-4), 367–376 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Ben-Ari, M.: Situated Learning in Computer Science Education. Computer Science Education 14(2), 85–100 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Ben-Ari, M.: The Concorde Doesn’t Fly Anymore, Keynote Talk. In: SIGCSE 2005, St. Louis, MO (2005) (retrieved March 28, 2006), from: http://stwww.weizmann.ac.il/G-CS/BENARI/files/concorde.pdf

  7. Bergin, Fourteen pedagogical patterns for teaching computer science (retrieved March 25, 2006), from: http://csis.pace.edu/~bergin/PedPat1.3.html

  8. Denning, P.J., Comer, D.E., Gries, D., Mulder, M.C., Tucker, A., Turner, A.J., Young, P.R.: Computing as a discipline, Communication of the ACM 32(1), 9–23 (1989)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Denning, P.J.: Great principles in computing curricula. In: Proceedings of SIGCSE 2004, Norfolk, Virginia, USA, pp. 336–341 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Denning, P.J., McGettrick, A.: Recentering computer science. Communication of the ACM 48(11), 15–19 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Denning, P.J., McGettrick, A., Rosenbloom, P., Snyder, L.: Re-centering computer science. In: Proceedings of SIGCSE 2006, Norfolk, Virginia, USA (2006) (Special Session)

    Google Scholar 

  12. du Boulay, B., O’Shea, T., Monk, J.: The black box inside the glass box: Presenting computing concepts to novices. In: Soloway, E., Spohrer, J.C. (eds.) Studying the Novice Programmer, pp. 431–446. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale (1989)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Gal-Ezer, J., Beeri, C., Harel, D., Yehudai, A.: A high-school program in computer science. Computer 28(10), 73–80 (1995)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Gal-Ezer, J., Harel, D.: What (else) should CS educators know? Communications of the ACM 41(9), 77–84 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Gal-Ezer, J., Harel, D.: Curriculum and course syllabi for high school CS program. Computer Science Education 9(2), 114–147 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Grandell, L., Peltomaki, M., Back, R.J., Salakoski, T.: Why complicate things? Introducing programming in high school using Python. In: Proceedings of ACE 2006, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia (2006) (retrieved March 25, 2006), from: http://crpit.com/confpapers/CRPITV52Grandell.pdf

  17. Guzdial, M., Soloway, E.: Computer science is more important than calculus: The challenge of living up to our potential. Inroads – SIGCSE Bulletin 35(2), 5–8 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Haberman, B., Ben-David Kollikant, Y.: Activating “black boxes” instead of opening “zippers” – A method of teaching novices basic CS concepts. Inroads –SIGCSE Bulletin 33(3), 41–44 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Helfman, J., Eylon, B.: Systematic Inventive Thinking, Department of Science Teaching, Weizmann Institute of Science (in Hebrew), Rehovot, Israel, p. 250 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Kavander, T., Salakoski, T.: Where have all the flowers gone? – Computer science education in General upper secondary schools. In: Proceedings of the Kolin Kolistelut-Koli Calling Conference, Koli, Finland, pp. 112–115 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Lapidot, T., Hazzan, O.: Methods of Teaching Computer Science course for prospective teachers. Inroads – SIGCSE Bulletin 35(4), 29–34 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Lee, P.: The computer science brain drain: A call to revitalize computer science education (2004) (retrieved April 23, 2004), from: https://www.wiki.cs.cmu.edu/public/uploads/Main/it-talent.pdf

  23. Long, P.D., Ehrmann, S.C.: Future of the learning space: Breaking out of the box. Educause, 42–58 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Papert, S., Harel, I.: Costructionism. Ablex Publishing Corporation, Greenwich (1991)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Poirot, J.L., Taylor, H.G., Norris, C.A.: Retraining teachers to teach high school computer science. Communication of the ACM, 912–917 (1988)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Roberts, E.: The dream of a common language: the search for simplicity and stability in computer science education. In: Proceedings of SIGCSE 2004, Norfolk, Virginia, USA, pp. 115–119 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Schollmeyer, M.: Computer programming in high school vs college. In: Proceedings of SIGCSE 1996, Philadelphia, PA, USA, pp. 378–382 (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Stephenson, C., Gal-Ezer, J., Haberman, B., Verno, A.: The new educational imperative: Improving high school computer science education. Final report of the CSTA Curriculum Improvement Task Force (February 2005) (retrieved June 11, 2006), from: http://csta.acm.org/Publications/CSTA-WhitePaperNC.pdf

  29. Stevenson, D.E.: Science, computational science and computer science: At a crossroads. In: Proceedings of the 1993 ACM conference on Computer Science, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, pp. 7–14 (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Yehezkel, C., Haberman, B.: Bridging the gap between school computing and the “real world”. In: Mittermeir, R.T. (ed.) ISSEP 2006. LNCS, vol. 4226, pp. 39–49. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Computer Science Dept., Holon Institute of Technology, and, Davidson Institute of Science Education, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, 76100, Israel

    Bruria Haberman

Authors
  1. Bruria Haberman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Informatik-Systeme, Universität Klagenfurt, Klagenfurt, Austria

    Roland T. Mittermeir

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2006 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Haberman, B. (2006). Teaching Computing in Secondary Schools in a Dynamic World: Challenges and Directions. In: Mittermeir, R.T. (eds) Informatics Education – The Bridge between Using and Understanding Computers. ISSEP 2006. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 4226. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/11915355_9

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11915355_9

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-48218-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-48227-7

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation