Teaching Fundamental Concepts of Informatics: 4th International Conference on Informatics in Secondary Schools - Evolution and Perspectives, ISSEP 2010, ... Computer Science and General Issues)

Annotation This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the fourth International Conference on Informatics in Secondary Schools - Evolution and Perspectives, ISSEP 2010, held in Zurich, Switzerland in January 2010. The 14 revised full papers presented together with 6 invited papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 32 submissions. A broad variety of topics related to teaching informatics in secondary schools is addressed ranging from national experience reports to paedagogical and methodological issues. Contributions solicited cover a variety of topics including but not limited to accessibility, assessment, classroom management, communication skills, computer science contests, computers and society, courseware, curriculum issues, research in informatics education, diagnostic teaching, empirical methods, ethical/societal issues, gender and diversity issues, high school/college transition issues, information systems, information technology, interdisciplinary courses and projects, laboratory/active learning, multimedia, object-oriented issues, pedagogy, student retention and persistence, role of programming and algorithmics, using emerging instructional, technologies and web-based techniques/web services 3642113753......Page 1 Lecture Notes in Computer Science 5941......Page 2 Teaching Fundamental Concepts of Informatics 4th International Conference on Informatics in Secondary Schools - Evolution and Perspectives, ISSEP 2010 Zurich, Switzerland, January 13-15, 2010 Proceedings 13......Page 3 Preface......Page 5 Conference Organization......Page 7 Table of Contents......Page 9 What? Why? How? – Questions That Should Be Reconsidered in Informatics Education......Page 11 Contests on Programming for General Education......Page 13 International Olympiads in Informatics......Page 14 Regional and National Olympiads in Informatics......Page 16 International Contest on Informatics and Computer Fluency......Page 17 Conclusions and Challenges......Page 20 References......Page 21 Introduction......Page 23 Induction and Recursion......Page 24 Intuition vs. Rigor......Page 26 Conclusion......Page 30 References......Page 31 The ACM K-12 Model Curriculum......Page 32 Realities......Page 34 State-Level Academic Standards......Page 35 Public Confusion......Page 36 Equity Issues......Page 37 CS Enrollments and "No Child Left Behind"......Page 38 Grass-Roots Efforts......Page 39 Teacher Development Institutes......Page 40 On-Line Communities and Teaching Materials......Page 41 Humanitarian FOSS......Page 42 Conclusions......Page 43 References......Page 44 Perspective on Computer Science Education......Page 45 Background......Page 46 Topics......Page 48 Didactic Approach......Page 49 Results......Page 53 Discussion......Page 56 References......Page 57 The High School CS Curriculum......Page 59 Object Based Software Design Course for Leading Teachers......Page 60 Research Questions......Page 61 Research Population......Page 62 The First Categorical System......Page 63 Enhanced Understanding of the Unit Contents......Page 65 Guiding Workshops......Page 66 Creating CS Leadership......Page 67 Factors Affecting the Course......Page 68 Conclusions......Page 69 References......Page 70 Introduction......Page 71 Method......Page 72 Teaching Unit......Page 73 Variables......Page 74 Effect of the Factor Gender......Page 75 Effect of the Tangible Artifact......Page 77 Effect of the Subjective Technical Competence......Page 78 Gender and Technology......Page 79 Outlook......Page 80 References......Page 81 Introduction......Page 82 Overview of the Article......Page 83 IOI Medal Boundaries......Page 84 Task Topics in TopCoder Contests......Page 85 Efficient Algorithms in UVa Contests......Page 86 New Task Types by Year......Page 88 Subjective Task Difficulty Rating......Page 89 Slovak Selection Camp......Page 90 Evaluating Task Difficulty Using IRT......Page 92 Conclusion......Page 93 Survey on NWERC Tasks......Page 95 Introduction......Page 96 Role of Games in Knowledge Acquisition......Page 97 Overview of the Paper......Page 98 Guess the Sentence......Page 99 Strategies and Practical Experience......Page 100 Rules......Page 101 Materials and Preparation......Page 102 Background and Insights......Page 103 Material......Page 104 Materials and Preparation......Page 105 Background and Insights......Page 106 Conclusion......Page 107 Soy-Sugar-Glue: Possible Goals......Page 108 Knocking Game: Comparison of Strategies......Page 109 Introduction......Page 110 Network Partners......Page 111 Network Resources......Page 112 BCS (Coventry) Volunteers......Page 113 Professional Bodies......Page 114 Secondary Education......Page 115 Challenges......Page 116 Reflections......Page 118 Future Plans......Page 119 References......Page 120 Introduction......Page 122 Technical Details for the Teachers......Page 124 Introducing the Concept of Public-Key Cryptography......Page 127 Teaching the Graph-Theoretical Cryptosystem......Page 128 Introducing the Concept of Public-Key Cryptography......Page 129 An Example Lesson at a Secondary School......Page 130 Overview of the Lesson......Page 131 Conclusion......Page 132 References......Page 133 Motivation......Page 134 Theoretical Background......Page 135 Empirical Proceeding......Page 136 Exemplary Illustration of Analysing the Expert Interviews......Page 138 Summary and Conclusions......Page 143 References......Page 145 Introduction......Page 146 Materials......Page 147 Pilot Project......Page 148 Computational Concepts Using Scratch......Page 149 CS Unplugged......Page 150 References......Page 151 Motivation......Page 153 Shifting Educational Aims......Page 154 Where to Start from?......Page 155 Encryption......Page 157 Operating Systems and Computer Networks......Page 158 Free-Text Evaluation on Grasping the Concept of Informatics......Page 159 Attention as an Indicator of Attractiveness......Page 160 Review Session with Teachers and Pupils......Page 162 References......Page 163 Introduction......Page 165 Truc Framework......Page 166 Model of Object-Oriented Programming......Page 167 Transitive Dependencies......Page 169 Cycles......Page 171 Comparison with Another Model......Page 172 Implications for Teaching......Page 173 Conclusions......Page 174 References......Page 175 Introduction......Page 180 Overview......Page 181 The Weekly Schedule of the Camp......Page 182 Lectures and Seminar Activities......Page 183 Proboj – The Programming Competition......Page 184 Naboj – The Mathematical Team Contest......Page 185 Mental Exercise......Page 186 Social Activities......Page 187 Popularity of Activities......Page 189 Conclusion......Page 190 References......Page 191 Types of Names......Page 192 Naming and Working Memory......Page 193 Mission 1 – Naming and Referring......Page 195 Mission 2 – Using Names for Activities......Page 197 Mission 3: Referring to Entities within a Complex Geometry......Page 199 Using Names for Entities and Types......Page 200 Referring Strategies......Page 201 Conclusion......Page 202 References......Page 203 Introduction......Page 204 The Project Development Activity......Page 205 Underlying Principles......Page 206 Implementation......Page 207 The Study......Page 208 Findings and Discussion......Page 209 References......Page 214 Author Index......Page 216 The International Conference on Informatics in Secondary Schools: Evolution and Perspective (ISSEP) is an emerging forum for researchers and practitioners in the area of computer science education with a focus on secondary schools. The ISSEP series started in 2005 in Klagenfurt, and continued in 2006 in Vilnius, and in 2008 in Torun. ́ The 4th ISSEP took part in Zurich. This volume presents 4 of the 5 invited talks and 14 regular contributions chosen from 32 submissions to ISSEP 2010. The ISSEP conference series is devoted to all aspects of computer science teaching. In the preface of the proceedings of ISSEP 2006, Roland Mittermeir wrote: “ISSEP aims at educating ‘informatics proper'by showing the beauty of the discipline, hoping to create interest in a later professional career in c- puting, and it will give answers di?erent from the opinion of those who used to familiarize pupils with the basics of ICT in order to achieve computer lit- acy for the young generation. ” This is an important message at this time, when several countries have reduced teaching informatics to educating about current softwarepackagesthatchangefromyeartoyear. ThegoalofISSEPistosupport teaching of the basic concepts and methods of informatics, thereby making it a subject in secondary schools that is comparable in depth and requirements with mathematics or natural sciences. As we tried to present in our book “Algori- mic Adventures.