Examinando por Autor "Connolly, Cornelia"

Mostrando 1 - 9 de 9

A Case Study Investigating an Appropriate Age and Plugged or Unplugged Approach for Programming at Primary School
(STM Journals: A division of Consortium eLearning Network Private Limited, 2023-02-17) Hijón-Neira, Raquel; Connolly, Cornelia; Pérez-Marín, Diana; Pizarro, Celeste
Purpose Introducing computer programming concepts to children is key in their development. Understanding at what age is most appropriate for their comprehension of subject and discipline specific information is relevant in curriculum development and of particular interest when we look across jurisdictions at the diverse and divergent nature of education internationally. Methods This paper presents research investigating the most appropriate methodology and age to introduce computer programming concepts to primary school children. The study was conducted at a private school in Madrid and a variety of educational approaches were used in introducing introductory programming concepts to the children who took part. Results The results show there is a need to apply a variety of plugged and unplugged approaches and the results demonstrate that children in 5th and 6th classes experienced higher learning improvements. Conclusion The study contributes to the body of knowledge in regard to learning the basics concepts of computer programming and of value to curriculum designers as CS subjects are introduced to global curricula.
A guided Scratch visual execution environment to introduce programming concepts to CS1 students
(MDPI, 2021-09-17) Hijón-Neira, Raquel; Connolly, Cornelia; Palacios-Alonso, Daniel; Borrás-Gené, Oriol
First-year computer science (CS1) university students traditionally have difficulties understanding how to program. This paper describes research introducing CS1 students to programming concepts using a Scratch programming language guided visual execution environment (VEE). The concepts addressed are those from an introductory programming course (sequences, variables, operators, conditionals, loops, and events and parallelism). The VEE guides novice students through programming concepts, explaining and guiding interactive exercises executed in Scratch by using metaphors and serious games. The objective of this study is, firstly, to investigate if a cohort of 124 CS1 students, from three distinct groups, studying at the same university, are able to improve their programming skills guided by the VEE. Secondly, is the improvement different for various programming concepts? All the CS1 students were taught the module by the same tutor in four 2-h sessions (8 h), and a qualitative research approach was adopted. The results show students significantly improved their programming knowledge, and this improvement is significant for all the programming concepts, although greater for certain concepts such as operators, conditionals, and loops than others. It also shows that students lacked initial knowledge of events and parallelism, though most had used Scratch during their high school years. The sequence concept was the most popular concept known to them. A collateral finding in this study is how the students’ previous knowledge and learning gaps affected grades they required to access and begin study at the university level.
Analysis of three methodological approaches in the use of gamification in vocational training
(MDPI, 2021-07-28) García-Iruela, Miguel; Hijón-Neira, Raquel; Connolly, Cornelia
A reduced interest and low motivation in learning amongst vocational students has become a challenge with many traditional strategies not capable of providing a solution to motivation and encouraging participation in learning. The use of elements of games in non-recreational environments (gamification) may be a possible solution, since research indicates an improvement in user experience and engagement, with possibilities of improved motivation and behavioral results. However not all studies obtain positive results, the success of gamification is influenced by the design, the sample, and the context. This study analyzes a gamification design with the most common elements in three methodological approaches (teacher-centered, student-centered, and mixed) in three different periods throughout a program of study with vocational training students. The results indicate that the mixed approach performed worse than the other two. Carrying out a greater number of tasks did not imply a better result in the subject marks, but rather paying more attention to each task influences the result positively.
Can Gamification Help in Increasing Motivation, Engagement, and Satisfaction? A gamified experience in teaching CS to students from other disciplines
(Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca, 2022-09-26) García-Iruela, Miguel; Hijón-Neira, Raquel; Connolly, Cornelia
The digital revolution is causing the new generations to demand new ways of learning. Motivating students is one crucial element of the learning-teaching process to achieve students’ learning, which is the main objective of education. Using typical gaming elements in non-game environ-ments, gamification transforms the learning process into a more motivating and enjoyable expe-rience. Therefore, gamification offers adequate solutions for the educational needs of the new generation of students. Although most studies have found benefits from gamification, the results have not been encouraging in some cases. Several review studies suggest that more empirical studies are needed to investigate the motivating effects of using gamification in different edu-cational settings and for specific student types. This study wants to answer whether using the proposed gamification design affects motivation, engagement, and satisfaction in teaching com-puter science to university students from other disciplinary areas such as journalism and audio-visual communication. The experiment consists of a gamified experience in a virtual classroom in Moodle for four weeks on general computer science content. A control group and a test group were used. The difference between the two was the use of gamified elements (points, badges, lev-els, task unlocking...). From the data obtained in this study, no significant differences were found in motivation and satisfaction between the different groups or the different methodologies. Our results demonstrate a specific positive correlation between engagement, motivation, and satisfac-tion. It is worth noting the positive values obtained in this type of course among all the students who were part of this experience and methodology.
Developing and Assessing Computational Thinking in Secondary Education using a TPACK Guided Scratch Visual Execution Environment
(IJCSES, 2021-04) Hijón-Neira, Raquel; García-Iruela, Miguel; Connolly, Cornelia
Effective and reliable assessment approaches to computational thinking in secondary education are in demand. This paper uses a guided technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) framework, incorporating a visual execution environment (VEE) and Scratch project for secondary school students as a method to teach and assess computational thinking. The objective is to investigate if computational thinking and programming concepts can be improved upon following this method, and if the K-12 children are able to improve their computational thinking skills. The research study was conducted over 2 years in a school setting using the guided VEE and project developed following the dimensions of Computational Thinking process. The project participants came from two cohorts, an after-school programming camp and an in-school environment. Data was collected over two academic years and a quasi-experimental procedure with pre- and post-test was followed. The results demonstrate knowledge gain on computational and programming concepts and encourages us to convey how students translate (as opposed to transfer) their computational thinking experiences into reality. The results indicate the students achieved significant improvement in their computational thinking development.
Mobile Learning to Support Computational Thinking in Initial Teacher Education: A Case Study
(IGI Global, 2021) Connolly, Cornelia; Hijón-Neira, Raquel; Ó. Grádaigh, Sean
Research on the role of mobile learning in computational thinking is limited, and even more so in its use in initial teacher education. Aligned to this there is a need to consider how to introduce and expose pre-service teachers to computational thinking constructs within the context of the subject area they will teach in their future classrooms. This paper outlines a quasi-experimental study to examine the role of mobile learning in facilitating computational thinking development amongst pre-service teachers in initial teacher education. The study enquires if there are significant differences in grades achieved in computational thinking and programming learning when mobile learning is introduced. Findings showed and reaffirmed the positive influence of the mobile applications on the development of computational thinking amongst the pre-service teachers who participated.
Pre-service Teacher Perceptions in Integrating Maker-Centered Learning in their Mathematics and Education Initial Teacher Education Programme
(Grup de Recerca ARGET, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Facultat de Ciències de l'Educació i Psicologia, 2020-04-27) Connolly, Cornelia; O'Gorman, Sean; Hall, Tony; Hijón-Neira, Raquel
This paper describes an innovative programme ‘C24M2 : Creative Coding for Math’s Makers’, in an undergraduate concurrent teacher education degree programme. Using the Makerspace in a University setting, the programme fostered a culture of creativity and innovation through combining mathematics and the more widely recognized STEM subjects. In addressing the challenge of preparing teachers effectively to teach key STEM areas, such as computational thinking, in an engaging and effective way, this paper describes a maker-design and structure, integrating physics with computer coding, to address the challenge in preparing student teachers of mathematics. The paper aims to validate and explore the pre-service teachers’ perceptions of computer science and demonstrates the potential of maker-centered learning as a powerful context for promoting and enhancing STEM education, both amongst pupils and pre-service teachers. This paper examines if the design of the C24M2 fosters a positive attitude towards computing for this set of pre-service teachers. The research conducted addresses the salient issues in sustaining and integrating maker-centered learning more widely and systematically within education, particularly the need to support teacher professional development in maker-centered learning to mediate sustainable, high impact learning in schools and other educational settings.
Prototype of a Recommendation Model with Artificial Intelligence for Computational Thinking Improvement of Secondary Education Students
(MDPI, 2023-05-26) Hijón-Neira, Raquel; Connolly, Cornelia; Pizarro, Celeste; Pérez-Marín, Diana
There is a growing interest in finding new ways to address the difficult task of introducing programming to secondary students for the first time to improve students’ computational thinking (CT) skills. Therefore, extensive research is required in this field. Worldwide, new ways to address this difficult task have been developed: visual execution environments and approaches by text programming or visual programming are among the most popular. This paper addresses the complex task by using a visual execution environment (VEE) to introduce the first programming concepts that should be covered in any introductory programming course. These concepts include variables, input and output, conditionals, loops, arrays, functions, and files. This study explores two approaches to achieve this goal: visual programming (using Scratch) and text programming (using Java) to improve CT. Additionally, it proposes an AI recommendation model into the VEE to further improve the effectiveness of developing CT among secondary education students. This integrated model combines the capabilities of an AI learning system module and a personalized learning module to better address the task at hand. To pursue this task, an experiment has been carried out among 23 preservice secondary teachers’ students in two universities, one in Madrid, Spain, and the other in Galway, Ireland. The overall results showed a significant improvement in the Scratch group. However, when analyzing the results based on specific programming concepts, significance was observed only in the Scratch group, specifically for the Loop concept.
The Effects of a Visual Execution Environment and Makey Makey on Primary School Children Learning Introductory Programming Concepts
(IEEE, 2020-01-01) Hijón-Neira, Raquel; Pérez-Marín, Diana; Pizarro, Celeste; Connolly, Cornelia
The interest of children in learning to program computers has increased dramatically in recent years with the adaptation of new programming languages such as Scratch or game-based approaches. That being so, it is still unclear how best to teach programming concepts to young children. There is a gap in the literature on how to introduce basic programming concepts to children at the primary school level, while taking factors such as the grade level and approach used into account. This paper explores the best approach for introducing basic programming concepts to school children in the 4th, 5th and 6th grades as well as the effects of the approaches on students’ learning gains (per concept). The concepts addressed here are those used in a traditional Introduction to Programming course, such as programs, memory and variables, inputs and outputs, conditionals and loops. The paper presents the resulting improvements achieved by the 4th, 5th and 6th graders in a multigroup pretest-posttest design, with a control group (the use of a blackboard as an unplugged approach) and two experimental groups (the use of a visual execution environment (VEE) with a mouse and the use of the VEE with Makey Makey). We present the results exploring the interaction between the grade and approach factors for the 144 children (9-12 years old) enrolled in primary education. The results provide statistically significant data indicating how the children succeeded in learning basic programming concepts according to their grade, the type of approach used, and the programming concept under study.