LODI , Michael

Many arguments are used to advocate for the introduction of Computer Science (CS) / Computational Thinking / "coding" in K-12 education. Growth mindset theory (GM) is also becoming very popular among educators and researchers. Some claims stating that studying CS can foster a GM have emerged. However, educational research shows that transfer of...

In questo lavoro risaliamo alle origini dell'espressione "pensiero computazionale", calandola nel contesto originale (la teoria costruttivista di Seymour Papert) che ha portato a coniarla. Analizziamo poi le eredità di tale contesto (apprendimento creativo e informatica creativa), per trarne utili princìpi, validi ancora oggi. Presentiamo poi...

In this paper, we reviewed many definitions of computational thinking, finding they share a lot of common elements, of very different nature. We classified them in mental processes, methods, practices, and transversal skills. Many of these elements seem to be shared with other disciplines and resonate with the current narrative on the...

Introduction of scientific and cultural aspects of Computer Science (CS) (called "Computational Thinking" - CT) in K-12 education is fundamental. We focus on three crucial areas. 1. Historical, philosophical, and pedagogical aspects. What are the big ideas of CS we must teach? What are the historical and pedagogical contexts in which CT...

Teacher training in computational thinking (CT) is becoming more and more important, as many countries are introducing CT at all K-12 school levels. Introductory programming courses are known to be difficult, and some studies suggest they foster an entity theory of intelligence (fixed mindset), reinforcing the idea that only some people have...

Teacher training in computational thinking is becoming more and more important, as many countries are introducing it at all K-12 school levels. Introductory programming courses are known to be difficult and some studies suggest they foster a fixed-mindset views of intelligence, reinforcing the idea that only some people have the so called "geek...

The pervasiveness of Computer Science (CS) in today's digital society and the extensive use of computational methods in other sciences call for its introduction in the school curriculum. Hence, Computer Science Education is becoming more and more relevant. In CS K-12 education, computational thinking (CT) is one of the abused buzzwords:...

Paper type: application.Background(s):computer science; educational research.Approach:Our approach is very practical: we are focusedon pedagogy and improved classroom practices –what Matthews (1997:8) calls "pedagogical constructivism."Moreover, we discuss the relationships between our work and Papert's constructionism.Context: The meaning and...

The commentaries provide useful questions and responses that help us understand better how unplugged activities serve as scaffolding to engage students in computer science. They help us to consider how activities relate to computational thinking, particularly by connecting the scaffolding in the activities to the limits of computation. This in...

In this paper the first two years of activities of "Programma il Futuro" project are described. Its goal is to disseminate among teachers in Italian primary and secondary schools a better awareness of informatics as the scientific basis of digital technologies. The project has adapted Code.org learning material and has introduced it to Italian...

The term "coding" is more and more used to talk about the diffusion of computer science in school. While computer scientists, computing professionals, and educators consider this term very close or even equivalent to "programming", media tend to use it to describe something new and different from the "old boring CS". We provide here the main...

This paper reports the results of an investigation involving almost a thousand primary school teachers in Italy, to explore their views on the terms "coding" and "programming", and how they are related to their ideas on "computational thinking". When directly asked "if coding is different from writing programs", roughly 2 out of 3 teachers...

We report our experience of an extracurricular online intervention on cryptography in Grade 10. Our first goal is to describe how we taught some fundamental cryptography ideas by making students encounter a progression of representative cryptosystems, from classical to modern, and discover their characteristics and limitations. We used Snap! (a...

Introductory programming courses (CS1) are difficult for novices. Inspired by Problem solving followed by instruction and Productive Failure approaches, we define an original "necessity driven" learning design. Students are put in an apparently well-known situation, but this time they miss an essential ingredient (the target concept) to solve...

We discuss if and to what extent we need the expression " computational thinking ". We argue that looking for a precise, operational definition could be misleading, and that this expression should not be used everywhere instead of " informatics ". " Computational thinking " , instead, is an instrumental expression which may help in suggesting...

Many advanced countries are recognizing more and more the importance of teaching computing, in some cases even as early as in primary school. "Computational thinking" is the term often used to denote the conceptual core of computer science or "the way a computer scientist thinks", as Wing put it. Such term - given also the lack of a widely...

Questo capitolo descrive le esperienze svolte da docenti e ricercatori del Dipartimento di Informatica - Scienza e Ingegneria (DISI) dell'Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna nell'ambito di alcuni progetti di disseminazione dei principi di base dell'Informatica (pensiero computazionale) nelle scuole primarie bolognesi.L'approccio che...

This experience report presents a participatory process that involved primary school teachers and computer science educationresearchers. The objective of the process was to co-design a learning module to teach iteration to second graders using a visualprogramming environment and based on the Use-Modify-Createmethodology. The co-designed...

We describe how we redesigned, because of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the CS1 course for Math undergraduates to be held online yet reflecting the face-to-face (F2F) experience as much as possible. We present the course structure, the IT tools we used, and the strategies we implemented to preserve the benefits of a synchronous experience. We...

This poster illustrates how we redesigned the CS1 course for Math undergraduates to be held online but reflecting the face-to-face (F2F) experience as much as possible. We describe the course structure and the strategies we implemented to maintain the benefits of a synchronous experience. We present the positive and negative aspects that...

National audience

Although programming is often seen as a key element of constructionist approaches, the research on learning to program through a constructionist strategy is somewhat limited, mostly focusing on how to bring the abstract and formal nature of programming languages into "concrete", possibly tangible objects, graspable even by children with limited...

Although programming is often seen as a key element of constructionist approaches, the research on learning to program through a constructionist strategy is somewhat limited, mostly focusing on how to bring the abstract and formal nature of programming languages into "concrete" or even tangible objects, graspable even by children with limited...

In this paper we study the problem-solving ability of the Large Language Model known as GPT-3 (codename DaVinci), by considering its performance in solving tasks proposed in the "Bebras International Challenge on Informatics and Computational Thinking". In our experiment, GPT-3 was able to answer with a majority of correct answers about one...

The paper presents the Olimpiadi di Problem Solving, a mild and inclusive competition aimed to promote computational thinking and general problem-solving in Italian schools. We describe motivation, teaching strategies behind the initiative, as well as its structure, organization and give some sample of the problems proposed to students. We also...