Abstract
Learning computer programming is a basic literacy in the digital age, which helps children develop creative problem solving, logical thinking and mental flexibility. Many countries have introduced computer science in their curriculum. For example, in the educational system of United Kingdom, pupils are introduced to computer science topics from the age of six, while in Greece the teaching of computer programming commences at the age of eleven. Given differences in culture, available infrastructures, as well as the age pupils are introduced to computer science, the challenge of forming a computer science curriculum that not only offers basic background but expands the cognitive horizon and cultivates the imagination of students, still remains a challenge. Towards this end, this study focuses on exploring the potential merits of introducing concurrent programming concepts early in the learning process. Results indicate that uninitiated to programming pupils at the age of eleven were able to comprehend basic concurrency topics, while pupils at the age of twelve with some programming familiarity were able to understand more advanced concepts and use them successfully for problem solving.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Ackermann, E.: Piaget’s constructivism, Papert’s constructionism: what’s the difference. Future Learn. Group Publ. 5(3), 438 (2001)
Allen, J.P., Pianta, R.C., Gregory, A., Mikami, A.Y., Lun, J.: An interaction-based approach to enhancing secondary school instruction and student achievement. Science 333(6045), 1034–1037 (2011). AAAS
Brennan, K., Resnick, M.: New frameworks for studying and assessing the development of computational thinking. In: Proceedings of the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Vancouver, Canada, pp. 1–25 (2012)
Clements, D.H., Sarama, J.: Research on logo: a decade of progress. Comput. Sch. 14(1–2), 9–46 (1997)
European Schoolnet: Computing our future computer programming and coding - priorities, school curricula and initiatives across Europe. http://www.eun.org/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=3596b121-941c-4296-a760-0f4e4795d6fa&groupId=43887. Accessed 10 May 2017
Fessakis, G., Gouli, E., Mavroudi, E.: Problem solving by 5–6 years old kindergarten children in a computer programming environment: a case study. Comput. Educ. 63, 87–97 (2013)
Franklin, D., Hill, C., Dwyer, H.A., Hansen, A.K., Iveland, A., Harlow, D.B.: Initialization in scratch: seeking knowledge transfer. In: SIGCSE 2016, pp. 217–222. ACM (2016)
Lewis, C.M.: Is pair programming more effective than other forms of collaboration for young students? Comput. Sci. Educ. 21(2), 105–134 (2011)
Mayer, R.E.: Teaching and Learning Computer Programming: Multiple Research Perspectives. Routledge, Abingdon (1988)
Meerbaum-Salant, O., Armoni, M., Ben-Ari, M.: Learning computer science concepts with scratch. Comput. Sci. Educ. 23(3), 239–264 (2013)
Papert, S.: Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas, 2nd edn. Basic Books, New York (1993)
Sáez-López, J.-M., Román-González, M., Vázquez-Cano, E.: Visual programming languages integrated across the curriculum in elementary school: a two year case study using “Scratch” in five schools. Comput. Educ. 97, 129–141 (2016)
Tsihouridis, C., Vavougios, D., Ioannidis, G.: The effect of switching the order of experimental teaching in the study of simple gravity pendulum-a study with junior high-school learners. In: International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning, pp. 501–514. Springer, Cham (2016)
Wilson, A., Moffatt, D.C.: Evaluating scratch to introduce younger schoolchildren to programming. In: 22nd Annual Workshop of the Psychology of Programming Interest Group, pp. 64–74 (2010)
Zygouris, N.C., Vlachos, F., Dadaliaris, A.N., Oikonomou, P., Stamoulis, G.I., Vavougios, D., et al.: The implementation of a web application for screening children with dyslexia. In: International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning, pp. 415–423. Springer, Cham (2016)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Fatourou, E., Zygouris, N.C., Loukopoulos, T., Stamoulis, G.I. (2018). Evaluation of Early Introduction to Concurrent Computing Concepts in Primary School. In: Auer, M., Guralnick, D., Simonics, I. (eds) Teaching and Learning in a Digital World. ICL 2017. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 715. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73210-7_64
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73210-7_64
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-73209-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-73210-7
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)