Background and Context: School principals and school guidance counsellors can be very influential in deciding what subjects are offered on the curriculum, how they are promoted and who they are targeted to. For that reason, exploring their views of Computer Science (CS) as a subject can help unearth potential barriers that may hinder the wider…

This paper unites the history of Computer Science (CS) Education in Ireland by plotting Ireland's roadmap leading to the implementation of formal Computer Science Education in schools. It first outlines the educational system in Ireland. The history roadmap starts in the 1970s with the first notions of introducing computing in post-primary school,…

As a dynamic and multifaceted construct, computational thinking (CT) has proven to be challenging to conceptualize and assess, which impedes the development of a workable ontology framework. To address this issue, the current article describes a novel approach towards understanding the ontological aspects of CT by using text mining and…

The metaphors used by teachers to explain the nature of student learning and student difficulty can reveal a great deal about how teachers conceive the teaching and learning process. This is an important area of research as it can shed light on how they see their role in the learning process and how they should intervene to assist students in…

This paper describes a growth mind-set intervention with Junior Cycle Coding students in a disadvantaged school in Ireland. This intervention builds on the work of O'Rourke et al. (2016) and applies findings to a computer programming setting where gamification is used to incentivise growth mind-set behaviour in students learning to code. Data…

Sense of belonging, or belongingness in academia, is an individual's personal conviction as to their acceptance as a valued member of an academic community. The importance of belongingness lies in correlations with motivation, persistence, mental health and well-being. Prior work has shown that belongingness can be lower in students who are…

This dissertation in practice explores the intersection of computer science education, specifically computational thinking and programming, with mathematics achievement among 15- year-old students in selected English-speaking countries. The research addresses a gap in understanding whether skills developed through computer science can positively…

While incorporating project-based exercise is a common practice in software engineering education, few studies have been conducted in investigating how real-world project development influences university students' proactive learning and knowledge transformation. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of developing real-world projects with…

The launch of a Computer Science curriculum specification in upper secondary schools in Ireland in 2018 was a landmark and a historic development in Irish education. Addressing the historical policy decisions adopted towards establishing the specification, this paper presents an analysis of developments from the 1970s as revealed in key policies…

Peer Assisted Leaning (PAL) programmes have been shown to enhance learner confidence and have an overall positive effect on learner comprehension, particularly in subjects traditionally perceived as difficult. This research describes the findings of a three-cycle Action Research study into the perceived benefits of implementing such a programme…

This dissertation was a comparative study of computer science in secondary schools in both Ireland and the United States. Computer science was a new subject compared to more established subjects in both Ireland and the United States. This dissertation looked at how this subject could be accessed by students in both countries. I used a document…

Citizen Development (CD) is a method of delivering low-code no-code (LCNC) development that empowers subject matter experts to design, develop, and deploy applications into production as though they were full-on, experienced coders. This paper explores teachers' perceptions around the potential for, and enactment of LCNC in our education system.…

The case study was carried out at a third-level college in Ireland to investigate the performance of a student population completing a first year computer architecture module using a flipped learning approach against a traditional chalk and talk approach. The study was completed over a 2-year period with the same lecturer delivering both…

Assessment is a central feature of teaching and learning. It is both complex and challenging in ordinary times, and these aspects are magnified in an online learning environment. Given its central role, it is crucial that its design and purpose is rigorous and robust. This paper presents justification for using interactive oral assessment as an…

Background and Context: Computer Science attrition rates (in the western world) are very concerning, with a large number of students failing to progress each year. It is well acknowledged that a significant factor of this attrition, is the students' difficulty to master the introductory programming module, often referred to as CS1. Objective: The…