Examinando por Autor "Fanchamps, Nardie"

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The Importance of Creativity in Developing Computational Thinking in Primary Education
(Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education, 2023-06) Fanchamps, Nardie; Zapata-Cáceres, María; Martín-Barroso, Estefanía; Van Gool, Emily
Applications for developing Computational Thinking (CT) are currently in the spotlight. This is notable since recently published theories and preliminary research conducted suggests that forms of creative thinking and acting are at least as important as the mental skill to apply concepts, methods, problem solving techniques, and the ability for logic reasoning for developing CT. Our research provides additional indications of the importance of creativity in CT development. We collected and analysed both quantitative and qualitative data to enlighten the importance of creativity and the feeling of having been creative when designing and solving tasks in developing CT. Our findings indicate that there is a clear interaction between being creative, acting creatively and using creative skills in developing CT. Subject to relevant influence of creativity, a development of sub-characteristics of CT could be demonstrated, elucidating that learning CT goes beyond a mere focus on concepts derived from computer science
Understanding Teachers’ Attitudes and Self-Assessment Towards Computational Thinking
(APSCE CTE-STEM, 2022) Zapata-Cáceres, María; Fanchamps, Nardie; Yeter, Ibrahim H.; Marcelino, Pedro; Martín-Barroso, Estefanía
Around the world, attention is being paid to computational thinking (CT) in education. Integration into school curricula places additional demands on teachers, promoting the skills and attitudes necessary to teach and integrate CT into education. Above all, it is important that teachers themselves are aware of the importance of CT and have a clear perception of its meaning. Toenable an effective and developmentally-enhancing implementation of CT in education, teachers must have competence to teach CT,recognize from what age CT can be taught, and howto transfer the acquired CT skills to other school subjects and areas. Therefore, we collected and compared data among schoolteachers from four different countries to enlighten their attitudes towards CT, their opinion about opportunities and possibilities for integrating CT into education, and how and from what age CT can best be applied. Furthermore, by administering and evaluating the Beginners Computational Thinking Test (BCTt), teachers’ perspectives regarding this validated instrument for the assessment of CT are analysed. From qualitative data obtained, we could deduce information about teachers' self-assessment of competence, confidence,and motivation to teach CT. From quantitative data collected by administeringthe BCTt to teachers, we obtained indications of teachers' mastery of CT competence. The data analysis confirmed our hypothesis that discrepancies exist between teachers' self-assessment and their actual CT competence. It can be argued that the findings fromour research, therefore, provide valuable information for further shaping teachers' future professionalisation concerning CT.
Using the Beginners Computational Thinking Test to Measure Development on Computational Concepts Among Preschoolers
(Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education, 2021-06) Zapata-Cáceres, María; Fanchamps, Nardie
The implementation of programming in primary education is in the forefront of attention in many countries. The application of programmable robots offers many opportunities to learn the basic concepts of programming. Learning and understanding these underlying concepts is not only reserved for students of five years and older but can also be learned at a younger age. Until now, making a development on Computational Thinking (CT) objectively measurable among preschoolers was not possible since no validated instrument was available for this purpose. Furthermore, it is unclear which capabilities of CT are achieved at each age and which are not reachable. To establish which CT skills are of interest to students and within the reach of each age group and therefore, teachable, this study has been carried out. To assess CT, the Beginners Computational Thinking test (BCTt) was used, along with direct observation and interviews. Results show the suitability of the BCTt among 5 years-old students and, partially among 4 years-old students. When applying two types of programmable robots a significant increase in the development of CT was observed. A development of specific complex programming concepts can also be demonstrated. In addition to the skills shown, it also appears that children are highly motivated to learn programming at a very young age