Abstract:

Despite computer literacy becoming an ever more important skill for pupils, computer science lessons in grades 3-6 are rare in Germany and often carried out by non-subject teachers. Curricular guidelines, suitable materials and further training courses for these class levels do only exist to a limited extent. While the teachers consider teaching IT basics starting at primary school age to be very important, the expectations towards self-efficacy in the field of computer science education among primary and secondary school teachers are not yet particularly well developed.

We report on the ongoing development, testing, and evaluation of teacher training courses to strengthen teachers’ self-efficacy for integrating computer science into their classrooms in grades 3-6. The training series primarily addresses teachers with no prior knowledge of computer science (education).

The content of the training courses is oriented towards three central content areas of basic computer science competencies (Information and Data; Computer Science Systems and Networks; and Algorithms), framed by the broader area of Computer Science, People and Society. The training design incorporates a high amount of active learning processes, using teaching materials that can also be used for working with pupils.

The course starts with a one-hour online onboarding session introducing the program and basic terms. The second session, two weeks later, is a 6-hour in-person training on "Data and Information" and "Computer Systems and Networks", with activities on digital transmission, coding, encryption, and the IPO model. The third session, one week later, focuses on "Algorithms" with programming activities using ScratchJunior and a microcontroller called Calliope mini. This session is followed by a practical phase lasting several weeks, during which the participants carry out their own teaching units in their school settings. During a final session, the participants reflect on their lessons during the practical phase and evaluate the whole training concept.

To assess the teachers’ self-efficacy, we used a pre-post-test design by adapting existing scales for teachers in secondary schools for the competences expectations in elementary schools. The survey is supplemented by a structured focus group interview during the final training session, which reflects on the quality and effectiveness of the training concept and possible adjustments in future iterations of the design.

The first round of the training took place from February till may 2024 with 9 participating teachers from primary, secondary and schools for children with special needs. First results of the evaluation show, that the self-efficacy expectations have clearly increased during the training period in all four content areas. Furthermore all participants fully agreed with the statements that "I was able to expand my competencies”, "I can imagine working with the suggestions and materials shown in my lessons and with my learning group" and "I will recommend the training to others". Statements in the focus group interview at the end of the final session confirm these results.

Minor changes were made to the concept based on the feedback from the first round. In the coming year, the training series will be repeated several times to find out if the results of the first round can be confirmed and if the training is suitable for strengthening the participants' self-efficacy with regard to computer science education.

Keywords:

In-service Teacher Training, Professional Development of Teachers, ICT Skills Development, Technology in Teaching and Learning, ICT and Digital Skills.