ERIC Number: EJ1295139
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021-Jul
Pages: 29
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0735-6331
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Professional Development of Code and Robotics Teachers through Small Private Online Course (SPOC): Teacher Centrality and Pedagogical Strategies for Developing Computational Thinking of Students
Hadad, Shlomit; Shamir-Inbal, Tamar; Blau, Ina; Leykin, Eynat
Journal of Educational Computing Research, v59 n4 p763-791 Jul 2021
This study explored (1) pedagogical strategies in Educational Coding and Robotics (ECR) learning which can develop computational thinking of students and (2) the degree of teacher centrality in the ECR classroom. In addition, we investigated (3) the added value of the Small Private Online Course (SPOC) to teacher professional development (TPD). We analyzed reflections of 80 in-service teachers on TPD through the SPOC (1,091 statements) and conducted semi-structured interviews with 13 of them one year after completing the course and teaching ECR in the classroom (328 statements). The most prominent strategies immediately after the TPD were "constructing learning experiences," "tinkering & debugging," and "interdisciplinary learning," while one year later, "experiential learning" and "collaborative learning" were more common. Regarding the degree of teacher centrality, a year after teaching ECR curriculum the teachers had a significantly higher percentage of statements reflecting their role as a "guide-on-the-side" and as "a partner" of students in the learning process. Regarding the contribution of the SPOC for TPD, teacher statements revealed significantly more benefits than challenges in both points of time. Interestingly, the same categories emerged bottom-up as benefits and challenges: a variety of "control dimensions," "independent learning," "learning and knowledge management" and "collaboration." Implications for educational theory and ECR practice are discussed.
Descriptors: Professional Development, Inservice Teacher Education, Elementary School Teachers, Programming, Robotics, Computer Science Education, Learning Strategies, Small Classes, Online Courses, Instructional Effectiveness, Curriculum Implementation, Private Education, Value Added Models, Teacher Role, Skill Development, Thinking Skills, Foreign Countries
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Israel
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A