Abstract:

Digital artefacts permeate almost every society and culture on this planet, but the majority of humanity uses them as a black box. For this reason, various representatives are calling for the introduction of a compulsory subject computer science so that the broad spectrum of society can gain an understanding of digital artefacts and thus become aware of the consequences of their activities. This paper focuses on the introduction of such a compulsory subject of computer science in Germany and concentrates on the computer science teachers, as they are a central point with regard to the teaching and development of computer science contents and competences. The research question of this approach is which contextual factors are needed for the implementation of a curriculum in Germany from the point of view of computer science teachers. For this purpose, a model of the relation between the (computer science) teachers and their curriculum will firstly be presented, based on national and international theories and empirical research from different disciplines. Although there are numerous research papers such as on the individual level of the computer science teacher (including professional competencies [1]), the topics of computer science curricula [2] or the influence of curricula on teaching design [3]. Nevertheless, few findings exist on how the contents of computer science curricula reach the computer science teacher. This research approach addresses this gap and aims to empirically verify the model developed from theory and research findings. Therefore, a short overview of the different possible research methodological paths is secondly given and the selected research methodology of guideline-based interviews and qualitative content analysis is presented. Thirdly, the first empirical sub-results are presented on the basis of 15 conducted interviews. These partial findings are discussed in relation to the model and other research literature in order to show the first approaches to revising the model. Finally, an outlook of the research project is provided.

References:
[1] E. Rahimi, E. Barendsen, and I. Henze, “Typifying Informatics Teachers’ PCK of Designing Digital Artefacts in Dutch Upper Secondary Education,” in Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Informatics in Schools: Improvement of Informatics Knowledge and Perception, A. Brodnik and F. Tort, Eds., Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2016, pp. 65–77.
[2] E. Barendsen and C. Schulte, “Perspectives on Computing Curricula,” in Computer Science Education: Perspectives on Teaching and Learning in School, S. Sentance, E. Barendsen, and C. Schulte, Eds., London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2018, pp. 77–90.
[3] W. Vollstädt, K.-J. Tillmann, U. Rauin, K. Höhmann, and A. Tebrügge, Lehrpläne im Schulalltag: Eine empirische Studie zur Akzeptanz und Wirkung von Lehrplänen in der Sekundarstufe I. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 1999.

Keywords:

Curriculum research, computer science teachers, empirical research.