The perceptions of secondary school students regarding the learning of computer programming at Key Stage 4 in the revised curriculum in England: problems and solutions.
Learning of computer programming
Keywords:
Programming, National Curriculum, Key Stage 4(KS4), secondary school, difficulties, and learning.Abstract
Programming is becoming progressively important for many societies in the world today. It is also required in educational institutions and is especially important for students who will be graduating and looking for employment opportunities in the future. However, the teaching of a programming is not well developed in many secondary schools in different areas in England. Today, teaching programming is considered to be of the priority domain of several countries in the twenty-first century. Interest in this domain is wide and the amount of research conducted in the field is numerous.
This study was designed to investigate and to aid a critical students’ understanding of the learning of programming in the revised Key Stage 4 (KS4) Computer Science (CS) curriculum. It seeks to understand the impact of learning programming on student’s perceptions toward programming and how to improve the teaching and learning of programming.
The study found that the issues faced by students learning programming include a lack of time, the perception that it is a ‘difficult’ subject and students’ insufficient understanding of programming. The findings also suggest that schools have made efforts to overcome these challenges and are willing to adopt programming as a subject and to help, encourage, develop and improve students’ ability to learn programming.
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References
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Yukselturk, E., & Altiok, S. (2017). An investigation of the effects of programming with Scratch on the preservice IT teachers’ self‐efficacy perceptions and attitudes towards computer programming. British Journal of Educational Technology, 48(3), 789-801.
Balmes, I. L. (2017). Correlation of mathematical ability and programming ability of the computer science students. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, Arts and Sciences, 4(3), 85-88.
Benjamin Wohl (2017) Coding the curriculum: new computer science GCSE fails to make the grade[online][Accessed 5 January 2019]. available at: Coding the curriculum: new computer science GCSE fails to make the grade | The Independent | The Independent
Combéfis, S., Beresnevičius, G., & Dagienė, V. (2016). Learning programming through games and contests: overview, characterisation and discussion. Olympiads in Informatics, 10(1), 39-60.
Dredge, S. (2014). Coding at school: A parent’s guide to England’s new computing
curriculum. The Guardian.
Duran, I. L. (2016). The role of mathematics background in the performance of BSCS students in computer programming subject. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Modern Education (IJMRME), 2(1), 147-50.
Fairlie, R. W. (2012). The effects of home access to technology on computer skills: Evidence from a field experiment. Information Economics and Policy, 24(3-4), 243-253.
Fairlie, R. W., & London, R. A. (2012). The effects of home computers on educational outcomes: Evidence from a field experiment with community college students. The Economic Journal, 122(561), 727-753.
Fairlie, R. W., & Robinson, J. (2013). Experimental evidence on the effects of home computers on academic achievement among schoolchildren. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 5(3), 211-40.
Gage, N. A., Scott, T., Hirn, R., & MacSuga-Gage, A. S. (2018). The relationship between teachers’ implementation of classroom management practices and student behavior in elementary school. Behavioral disorders, 43(2), 302-315.
Hadi Partovi (2020) CS helps students outperform in school, college, and workplace. [Online]. [Accessed 12 September 2020]. Available at: CS helps students outperform in school, college, and workplace | by Code.org | Medium
Halim, N. F. A., & Phon, D. N. E. (2020, Februar). Mobile Learning Application Impact Towards Student Performance in Programming Subject. In IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering (Vol. 769, No. 1, p. 012056). IOP Publishing.
Kafai, Y.B. and Burke, Q. ( 2015). Constructionist gaming: Understanding the benefits of making games for learning. Educational psychologist, 50(4), 313-334.. https://doi. org/10.1080/00461520.2015.1124022.
Kalelioglu, F., & Gülbahar, Y. (2014). The Effects of Teaching Programming via Scratch on Problem Solving Skills: A Discussion from Learners' Perspective. Informatics in Education, 13(1), 33-50.
Kaufmann, O. T., & Stenseth, B. (2020). Programming in mathematics education. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 1-20.
Kazimoglu, C., Kiernan, M., Bacon, L., & MacKinnon, L. (2012). Learning programming at the computational thinking level via digital game-play. Procedia Computer Science, 9, 522-531.
Kemp, P. (2014). Computing in the national curriculum: A guide for secondary
teachers. Computing at School.
Khaleel, F. L., Ashaari, N. S., Tengku, T. S. M., & Ismail, A. (2017). Programming learning requirements based on multi perspectives. International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 7(3), 1299.
Lau, W. (2017). Teaching Computing in Secondary Schools: A Practical Handbook. Routledge.
laylaec (2019) Advantages and disadvantages of programming education [online].
[Accessed: 2 August 2019]. Available at: Advantages and disadvantages of programming education (laylaec.com)
Leung, L. (2015). Validity, reliability, and generalizability in qualitative research. Journal of family medicine and primary care, 4(3), 324.
Li, Z., Plaue, C., & Kraemer, E. (2013, May). A spirit of camaraderie: The impact of pair programming on retention. In 2013 26th International Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training (CSEE&T) (pp. 209-218). IEEE.
López, J. M. S., Otero, R. B., & García-Cervigón, S. D. L. (2021). Introducing robotics and block programming in elementary education. RIED. Revista Iberoamericana de Educación a Distancia, 24(1), 95-113.
Luxton-Reilly, A. (2016, July). Learning to program is easy. In Proceedings of the 2016 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (pp. 284-289).
Moller, F., & Crick, T. (2018). A university-based model for supporting computer science curriculum. Reform Journal of Computers in Education, 5(4), 415-434.
Moller, F., & Powell, S. (2019, January). Teaching Computing via a School Placement. In Proceedings of the 3rd Conference on Computing Education Practice (pp. 1-4).
Mozelius, P., Ulfenborg, M., & Persson, N. (2019). Teacher attitudes towards the integration of programming in middle school mathematics. INTED 2019, 701-706.
Msosa, L. (2020). Selection criteria for serious games to assist students in learning programming concepts (Doctoral dissertation, North-West University (South Africa).
Moons, J., & De Backer, C. (2013). The design and pilot evaluation of an interactive learning environment for introductory programming influenced by cognitive load theory and constructivism. Computers & Education, 60(1), 368-384.
Nikiforos, S., Kontomaris, C., & Chorianopoulos, K. (2013). MIT scratch: A powerful tool for improving teaching of programming. Conferrence on Informatics in Education, 1-5.
O’Kane, L. (2019) Computing mastery for primary schools: Achieving computing mastery [online]. Accessed: 2 May 2019]. Available at: computing mastery Archives - iCompute (icompute-uk.com)
Ost, B., & Schiman, J. C. (2017). Workload and teacher absence. Economics of Education Review, 57, 20-30.
Passey, D. (2017). Computer science (CS) in the compulsory education curriculum: Implications for future research. Education and Information Technologies, 22(2), 421-443.
Piteira, M., Costa, C., & Aparicio, M. (2018). Computer programming learning: how to apply gamification on online courses?. Computer programming learning: how to apply gamification on online courses?, (2).
Prasad, A., & Chaudhary, K. (2021). Interactive Animation and Affective Teaching and Learning in Programming Courses. In Advances in Computer, Communication and Computational Sciences (pp. 613-623). Springer, Singapore.
Psycharis, S., & Kallia, M. (2017). The effects of computer programming on high school students’ reasoning skills and mathematical self-efficacy and problem solving. Instructional science, 45(5), 583-602.
Royal Society, After the reboot: computing education in UK schools [Online], (2017). [Accessed 12 September 2018]. Available at: <https://royalsociety.org/-/media/policy/projects/computing-education/computing-education-report.pdf/>
Rubio, M. A., Hierro, C. M., & Pablo, A. P. D. M. (2013, July). Using arduino to enhance computer programming courses in science and engineering. In Proceedings of EDULEARN13 conference (pp. 1-3). IATED Barcelona, Spain.
Sáez-López, J. M., del Olmo-Muñoz, J., González-Calero, J. A., & Cózar-Gutiérrez, R. (2020). Exploring the Effect of Training in Visual Block Programming for Preservice Teachers. Multimodal Technologies and Interaction, 4(3), 65.
Santos, Á., Gomes, A., & Mendes, A. J. (2010). Integrating new technologies and existing tools to promote programming learning. Algorithms, 3(2), 183-196.
Sentance, S. (2019). Moving to mainstream: developing computing for all. In Proceedings of the 14th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education (pp. 1-2).
Shim, J., Kwon, D., & Lee, W. (2016). The effects of a robot game environment on computer programming education for elementary school students. IEEE Transactions on Education, 60(2), 164-172.
Storte, D., Webb, M., Bottino, R. M., Passey, D., Kalas, I., Bescherer, C., ... & Fuschek, G. (2019). Coding, programming and the changing curriculum for computing in schools.
Tsai, C. Y. (2019). Improving students' understanding of basic programming concepts through visual programming language: The role of self-efficacy. Computers in Human Behavior, 95, 224-232.
Ursachi, G., Horodnic, I. A., & Zait, A. (2015). How reliable are measurement scales? External factors with indirect influence on reliability estimators. Procedia Economics and Finance, 20, 679-686.
Waite, J., Curzon, P., Marsh, W., & Sentance, S. (2020). Difficulties with design: The challenges of teaching design in K-5 programming. Computers & Education, 150, 103838.
Wang, X. M., Hwang, G. J., Liang, Z. Y., & Wang, H. Y. (2017). Enhancing students’ computer programming performances, critical thinking awareness and attitudes towards programming: An online peer-assessment attempt. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 20(4), 58-68.
Yildiz Durak, H. (2018). Digital story design activities used for teaching programming effect on learning of programming concepts, programming self‐efficacy, and participation and analysis of student experiences. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 34(6), 740-752.
Younie, S., & Bradshaw, P. (Eds.). (2017). Debates in Computing and ICT Education.
Routledge.
Yukselturk, E., & Altiok, S. (2017). An investigation of the effects of programming with Scratch on the preservice IT teachers’ self‐efficacy perceptions and attitudes towards computer programming. British Journal of Educational Technology, 48(3), 789-801.
Published
2024-11-19
How to Cite
Almdahem, A. (2024). The perceptions of secondary school students regarding the learning of computer programming at Key Stage 4 in the revised curriculum in England: problems and solutions.: Learning of computer programming. International Journal of Computer Science Education in Schools, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.21585/ijcses.v7i1.147
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