Abstract
Abstract Technology is rapidly changing the world around us and thus, there is a need to adjust education by teaching children skills that are required in the fast-paced digital life. One problem-solving skillset, which has gained considerable attention in the last couple of years, is computational thinking (CT). Up to now, many countries have already implemented CT as an integral part of their education curricula, however, there is still often the misconception that teaching CT requires high technical effort and profound knowledge of computer science. Whereas CT is useful in any subject, it is not necessarily linked to technology and helps children to tackle problems by applying skills that are used in computer science. One effective hands-on approach to foster CT in every subject is modeling. A model is a simplified and reduced version of the real world and modeling is the process of creating it. In this paper, the authors focus on fostering CT skills with models from the field of computer science (CS) in foreign language teaching. The authors present several CS models, that have proven to be useful in language teaching, demonstrate how this approach can foster CT skills and give an insight into their research.
Highlights
Technology is rapidly changing the world around us and there is a need to adjust education by teaching children skills that are required in the fastpaced digital life
The study of 2014 involved 141 students and revealed that modeling especially encourages students to filter out essential information of texts, which helps them in their writing process (Salbrechter, Kölblinger, & Sabitzer, 2015)
In this empirical study, modeling was proven to be useful for language teaching, especially when it comes to recognizing essential information, which is crucial in grammar teaching
Summary
21st century teachers are facing fundamental educational challenges and need to comply with the changes that. Outside the field of CS, these diagrams have many application possibilities and can be compared to concept maps, which are known to have major effects on students learning outcomes, especially on students with learning difficulties (Sousa, 2016; Knogler, Wiesbeck, & CHU Research Group, 2018). The authors focus on modeling in foreign language teaching as a new approach to teach CT without the use of technological devices. The paper presents some results gained throughout the years and gives an outlook on future investigations
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