VI Jornadas eMadrid "Unbundling Education". Mesa redonda eMadrid: "Computational Thinking: A critical skill for the 21st century". Gregorio Robles. URJC. 21/06/2016.

1. VI Jornadas eMadrid, June 2016
Unbundling Education
Computational Thinking: A critical skill for the 21st century
Gregorio Robles, Jes´us Moreno Le´on, Marcos Rom´an
grex@gsyc.urjc.es, jesus.moreno@programamos.es, mroman@edu.uned.es
Kindergarten and Beyond - Lifelong Learning Research Group (KGB-L3)
Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Madrid, Spain)
VI Jornadas eMadrid, June 21st 2016
Gregorio Robles, Jes´us Moreno Le´on, Marcos Rom´an Unbundling Education

2. VI Jornadas eMadrid, June 2016
(cc) 2016 Gregorio Robles, Jes´us Moreno-Le´on, Marcos Rom´an
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Some of the figures have been taken from the Internet
Source, and author and licence if known, is specified.
For those images, fair use applies.
Gregorio Robles, Jes´us Moreno Le´on, Marcos Rom´an Unbundling Education

3. VI Jornadas eMadrid, June 2016
About Computational Thinking
1. Computation thinking is a renaming of
something that already occurred in the 70s
and 80s, and that disappeared in the 90s.
Now, it is back!
Background picture: Simon Cunningham
Gregorio Robles, Jes´us Moreno Le´on, Marcos Rom´an Unbundling Education

4. VI Jornadas eMadrid, June 2016
Research on Cognitive Effects of Programming
Figure: Sum of citations of 11 key papers on cognitive effects of
programming 1984-2014. Calculated using Web of Science
Source: Nina Breshnihan, Trinity College Dublin
Gregorio Robles, Jes´us Moreno Le´on, Marcos Rom´an Unbundling Education

5. VI Jornadas eMadrid, June 2016
Code to learn
The Logo programming language
Developed in the late 1960s
Its educational impact was
intensively investigated in
the 70s and 80s
Students’ improvements in
maths (and other
disciplines) were proved
“Disappeared” from the
educational landscape in the
mid-90s
Seymour Papert’s picture: jgora.net
Gregorio Robles, Jes´us Moreno Le´on, Marcos Rom´an Unbundling Education

6. VI Jornadas eMadrid, June 2016
History of learning with computers
Figure: You are here!
Source: REaCT EU project proposal
Gregorio Robles, Jes´us Moreno Le´on, Marcos Rom´an Unbundling Education

7. VI Jornadas eMadrid, June 2016
About Computational Thinking
2. Computational thinking skills can be
acquired by other means, but probably
programming is the most cost-effective way
to do it nowadays
Background picture: Simon Cunningham
Gregorio Robles, Jes´us Moreno Le´on, Marcos Rom´an Unbundling Education

8. VI Jornadas eMadrid, June 2016
About Programming
Programming is cheap
Programming is ubiquitous: it can be done in isolation, and in
group... locally or over the Internet
Programming promotes some social skills and team work
Programming practice provides early (usually, instantaneous)
feedback
Programming releases endorphins (no scientific evidence, yet ;)
There are (software) tools that can help in the learning process
Background picture: (c) Duncan Hill. Flickr
Gregorio Robles, Jes´us Moreno Le´on, Marcos Rom´an Unbundling Education

9. VI Jornadas eMadrid, June 2016
About Computational Thinking
3. Computational thinking skills are not only
for STEM (or for learning STEM)
Background picture: Simon Cunningham
Gregorio Robles, Jes´us Moreno Le´on, Marcos Rom´an Unbundling Education

10. VI Jornadas eMadrid, June 2016
Coding beyond STEM
STEM + Art = STEAM. Haven’t heard about it before?
Programming is a way of expression (that is complementary to
other ways of expressing yourself)
Learners become prosumers, not just consumers of technology
There is (preliminary) research on the (good) effects of coding
in other subjects
Background picture: ngu.edu
Gregorio Robles, Jes´us Moreno Le´on, Marcos Rom´an Unbundling Education

11. VI Jornadas eMadrid, June 2016
CT Research
4. We are performing research on the topic
in eMadrid!
Background picture: Pixabay - Public Domain
Gregorio Robles, Jes´us Moreno Le´on, Marcos Rom´an Unbundling Education

12. VI Jornadas eMadrid, June 2016
CT Research @ URJC
Assessment of Computational Thinking skills
Dr.Scratch on-line gamified evaluation tool
Evaluation frameworks (Bebras, TPC...)
Experimentation
Age (i.e., when do we start?)
Gender (i.e., is the effect the same?)
Subject (i.e., maths vs. social sciences?)
Topic (i.e., what skills are developed with different type of
programs?)
Unbundling the learning process (i.e., social learning?
gamification?)
Background picture: Pixabay - Public domain
Gregorio Robles, Jes´us Moreno Le´on, Marcos Rom´an Unbundling Education

13. VI Jornadas eMadrid, June 2016
In short...
1 Computation thinking is a renaming of something that already
occurred in the 70s and 80s and that disappeared in the 90s.
Let’s not happen that again!
2 Computational thinking skills can be acquired by other means,
but probably programming is the most cost-effective way to
do it nowadays
3 Computational thinking skills are not only for STEM (or for
learning STEM)
4 We are performing research on computational thinking in
eMadrid!
Background picture: flamingcow.co.uk
Gregorio Robles, Jes´us Moreno Le´on, Marcos Rom´an Unbundling Education

14. VI Jornadas eMadrid, June 2016
Unbundling Education
Computational Thinking: A critical skill for the 21st century
Gregorio Robles, Jes´us Moreno Le´on, Marcos Rom´an
grex@gsyc.urjc.es, jesus.moreno@programamos.es, mroman@edu.uned.es
Kindergarten and Beyond - Lifelong Learning Research Group (KGB-L3)
Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Madrid, Spain)
VI Jornadas eMadrid, June 21st 2016
Gregorio Robles, Jes´us Moreno Le´on, Marcos Rom´an Unbundling Education