Computer science education from primary school to higher education: challenges and strategies Special session inside the 18th International Conference on Circuits, Systems, Communications and Computers, Santorini Island, Greece, July 17-21, 2014

http://www.cscc14.org/Sessions-Workshops-Minisymposia.htm

http://10times.com/computer-scienceeducation

It is well-established that problem-solving capabilities, critical and creative thinking, collaboration and communication skills are at the basis for successful career development and that computer science can foster such skills. This type of skill is recognized as fundamental and traverses all disciplines.

A recent international movement aims to expose students as soon as possible to computer science education in order to teach all these skills. It is possible to recall several notable international curricula, such as the recent English curriculum for computer science education starting from Key Stage 1 (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum), world-wide initiatives such as the recent Hour of Code during the Computer Science Education Week (http://csedweek.org/learn) as well as other curriculum proposals or reforms. The same innovative trend is also present in higher education where the need for an active student role, in which their engagement in team projects relates as much as possible to real word cases, is highly encouraged along with a stronger link between academia and industry.

The session aims to discuss issues related to computer science education, with a focus on pedagogies, educational tools, new programming languages and paradigms and their impact on computer science education at all levels, from primary school to higher education. Prospective authors are encouraged to submit their work related, but not limited to, the following topics:

- Pedagogies and best practices in teaching computer science, including their evaluation
- Curriculum issues and content proposals, including learning objectives, competencies and goals related to all computer science areas, as well as their evaluation
- Case studies and experiences related to collaborative project development - Computer science education for students with special needs
- Assistive technologies for students with special needs - Educational tools design and evaluation of their use-in-context
- Computational thinking skills development.
- Student assessment
- Educational tools evaluation of their use-in-context
- Strategies and approaches for team formation, management and assessment
- Student and teacher motivation: strategies and best practices
- Classroom management strategies and student learning path differentiation
- Computer science and interdisciplinary experiences
- Teacher training and professional development
- Challenges in computer science education related to socio-cultural factors
- Informal computer science education such as after school programs and experiences
- Funding issues related to research and teaching

Prospective authors should submit their work by May 31 by sending it to francesco.maiorana@dieei.unict.it.

Feedback and notification of acceptance to authors will be provided by June 15.