Abstract
In this paper, we describe a programme of school engagement aimed at instilling a discipline of computational thinking within pupils before they embark on a university course. The workshops we deliver are designed mainly to increase the pipeline of school leavers going on to study computer science or software engineering, specifically by changing perceptions on what this means amongst the vast majority – particularly girls – who think it is just a geeky topic for boys.
Over the past number of years, student enrollment has been increasing dramatically in our university’s undergraduate computer science and software engineering degree programmes. Also, the performance of the students on first-year formal methods modules – which has historically been poor – has risen substantially. Whilst there are many influences contributing towards these trends, we present evidence that our efforts with school engagement has to a non-trivial extent contributed towards these: both through the way the undergraduate programme has been adapted to incorporate the Technocamps approach, and through providing a pipeline of students who understand the principles of computational thinking.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
technocamps.com.
- 2.
- 3.
- 4.
- 5.
References
Averbach, B., Chein, O.: Problem Solving Through Recreational Mathematics. Dover, Mineola (1980)
Backhouse, R.: Algorithmic Problem Solving. Wiley, New York (2011)
Betteridge, J., et al.: Teaching of computing to mathematics students. In: Proceedings of the 3rd Conference on Computing Education Practice, CEP 2019, Durham, UK, 9 Jan 2019, pp. 12:1–12:4 (2019)
Crick, T., Moller, F.: Technocamps: advancing computer science education in wales. In: Proceedings of WiPSCE: The 10th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education, pp. 121–126. ACM (2015)
Education Workforce Council (EWC): Annual statistics digest (2019). https://www.ewc.wales/site/index.php/en/documents/research-and-statistics/annual-statistics-digest/archived-annual-statistics-digests/1895-2017.html
Gibbs, W.W.: Software’s chronic crisis. Sci. Am. 271(3), 86–95 (2004)
Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA): Recruitment data for computer science courses in the UK (2019). https://www.hesa.ac.uk
House of Commons Science and Technology Committee: Digital skills crisis: Second Report of Session 2016–2017 (2016)
Kay, A.: A conversation with Alan Kay. ACM Queue 2(9), 20–30 (2004)
Levitin, A., Levitin, M.: Algorithmic Puzzles. Oxford University Press, New York (2011)
Michalewicz, Z., Michalewicz, M.: Puzzle-Based Learning. Hybrid Publishers, Melbourne (2010)
Moller, F., Crick, T.: A university-based model for supporting computer science curriculum reform. J. Comput. Educ. 5(4), 415–434 (2018)
Morgan, C.: (In-)Formal methods: the lost art. In: Liu, Z., Zhang, Z. (eds.) SETSS 2014. LNCS, vol. 9506, pp. 1–79. Springer, Cham (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29628-9_1
Naur, P., Randell, B. (eds.): Software Engineering: Report of a Conference Sponsored by the NATO Science Committee, Garmisch, Germany, 7–11 Oct 1968. NATO Scientific Affairs Division (1969)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Moller, F., O’Reilly, L., Powell, S., Denner, C. (2021). Teaching Them Early: Formal Methods in School. In: Cerone, A., Roggenbach, M. (eds) Formal Methods – Fun for Everybody. FMFun 2019. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1301. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71374-4_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71374-4_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-71373-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-71374-4
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)