A computer science and robotics integration model for primary school: evaluation of a large-scale in-service K-4 teacher-training program

Laila El-Hamamsy,Barbara Bruno,Jacques Lanarès,Jean-Philippe Pellet,Francesco Mondada,Didier Roy,Gabriel Parriaux,Frédérique Chessel-Lazzarotto,Tereza Cahlikova,Morgane Chevalier,Jessica Dehler Zufferey

doi:10.1007/s10639-020-10355-5

Abstract

Integrating computer science (CS) into school curricula has become a worldwide preoccupation. Therefore, we present a CS and Robotics integration model and its validation through a large-scale pilot study in the administrative region of the Canton Vaud in Switzerland. Approximately 350 primary school teachers followed a mandatory CS continuing professional development program (CPD) of adapted format with a curriculum scaffolded by instruction modality. This included CS Unplugged activities that aim to teach CS concepts without the use of screens, and Robotics Unplugged activities that employed physical robots, without screens, to learn about robotics and CS concepts. Teachers evaluated positively the CPD and their representation of CS improved. Voluntary adoption rates reached 97% during the CPD and 80% the following year. These results combined with the underpinning literature support the generalisability of the model to other contexts.

Highlights

While no consensus has been reached yet, the dialogue around emerging skills and their role in school curricula has evolved from debating the issue of whether computer science (CS)Laila El-Hamamsy and Frédérique Chessel-Lazzarotto contributed to this work.Extended author information available on the last page of the articleEducation and Information Technologies (2021) 26:2445–2475 should be introduced in the standard curriculum, to how its introduction should be done (Webb et al 2017)
The need for a community is at the level of the establishment itself with what has been referred to in the literature as “linkers” or change agents (Dooley 1999) and more recently “purveyors” (Israel et al 2015) whose role is to “act as an interface between the adopters of the innovation and those with a vested interest in seeing the change occur: the stakeholders” (Dooley 1999). Whilst this is often taken up by school principals, our model proposes to have a designated teacher take up that role, following the example of what was done for information and communication technologies (ICT) (Information and Communication Technology) in the Canton Vaud
The CS Unplugged and Robotics Unplugged days (Days 1 and 2) were well received with significantly higher scores compared to other days (Days 3 and 4) for adapted difficulty, equilibrium and content (Kruskal Wallis test p < 0.001)

Summary

Introduction

Education and Information Technologies (2021) 26:2445–2475 should be introduced in the standard curriculum, to how its introduction should be done (Webb et al 2017). The increasing number of initiatives actively working on integrating CS in the curriculum, some even with a focus on robotics (e.g. in France with Calmet et al 2016), have met many barriers that very often hinder the success of such projects in terms of long-term adoption in classrooms. There are examples of successful national endeavours in terms of CS integration, as in the case of Estonia (HITSA Information Technology Foundation for Education 2018), there is scarce documentation detailing the followed approaches, as few countries evaluate their initiatives and/or communicate their results (Balanskat and Engelhardt 2015). The format of the CS continuing professional development program (CPD) conceived for K-4 primary school education

Methods

Results

Conclusion