This article reports on the authors’ experience in training secondary computer science teachers in French speaking Switzerland. We present issues commonly raised during our courses and originating either from curricular or teaching decisions and describe how we tackle them using several concepts drawn from didactics. After a brief description of the cultural context, we treat questions related to: the introduction of this new discipline in secondary education; the diversity of answers regarding what computer science is and what ought to be taught; the construction of an annual plan and design of educational resources; the spatial arrangement in the classroom and its effects on teaching practices; and finally, the several means of evaluating students’ works in computer science.

Computational thinking (CT) is often defined as multifaceted which, on the one hand, allows researchers to embrace its complexity but, on the other hand, blurs the possibilities of its teaching. Although many models shed light on the multiple dimensions of CT, few studies investigate the benefits of combining such models when a teacher orchestrates in-class activities aiming at developing students’ CT. This position paper aims to fill this gap by describing and analysing how a teacher can base the orchestration of a pedagogical scenario on three different models: Komis et al.’s model to design ER activities in co-creative problem solving, Sentance et al.’s PRIMM model to scaffold the students’ tasks, and Chevalier et al.’s CCPS model to unscaffold the learning activities.

L'apprentissage de la programmation repose souvent sur la presentation de concepts algorithmiques puis sur leur mise en application avec un langage de programmation. Lorsqu'un langage de programmation textuel est utilise (en opposition a un langage de programmation par blocs), la grammaire et la syntaxe de ce langage peuvent constituer une difficulte supplementaire pour l'apprenant. D'autre part, les langages de programmation reposent souvent sur un vocabulaire tire de la langue anglaise. Cet aspect peut constituer un obstacle pour un public d'apprenants non anglophones puisqu'ils manipuleraient des mots et construiraient des instructions sans en comprendre leurs sens. Dans cet article, nous identifions les caracteristiques des langages de programmation qui peuvent etre a l'origine de difficultes pour les apprenants. Puis, nous presentons PseuToPy, un langage de programmation naturel qui permet la construction d'instructions proches de la langue naturelle de l'apprenant.

Most text-based programming languages found in introductory programming courses use English words. This fact alone can deter non-English speakers who wish to learn to program: how can we expect them to learn a programming language if they do not even understand the meaning of the keywords they are manipulating? In addition, the syntax and semantics of programming languages are also known causes of learners’ mistakes. In this paper, we highlight these difficulties and then present PseuToPy, a programming language which can be localized in several tongues on the one hand and produce instructions close to these natural languages on the other. PseuToPy is still a work in progress: we have developed a version in French and hope to study its use in an educational context to see whether or not programming beginners find it easier to learn programming by implementing algorithms in their native tongues.

Learning elementary Computer Science (CS) concepts can often be difficult for young students. The literature presents two main practices to introduce programming: using digital environments (e.g., integrated development environments, command-line tools) or exploiting manipulations on programmable tangible objects such as robots. This second practice has recently gained traction thanks to the positive results concerning the use of programmable objects in introductory programming courses. However, and to the best of our knowledge, there is no study comparing learning gains between 'digital' and 'physical' computing. Our study focuses on highlighting possible differences between these two practices to learn CS at an introductory level. We compare the learning progress of two groups of students (total=36, male=27, female=9, aged 14-17) with little or no previous knowledge of programming; both groups are presented with the same pre-test, programming exercises, and post-test. All participants exploit a block-based programming environment to do the exercises and program either a tangible BBC micro:bit card or its digital simulation. The proposed programming exercises concern basic CS concepts: variables, conditional structures, and iterative structures. By running their programs on the tangible or digital card, students are able to visualize the results of their exercises thanks to the grid of LEDs that is present on the BBC micro:bit. Our objective is to determine if the learning of a specific CS concept is better achieved through the programming of a tangible object or an exact equivalent digital simulation of it. A statistical analysis will be presented to evaluate the results of this experiment.

La programmation physique est une approche visant a programmer et interagir avec un objet tangible programmable pour apprendre des concepts cles de la programmation. Cette approche presente de nombreux avantages en termes de motivation, de creativite, et d'apprentissage de la programmation. Cependant, ces apprentissages sont rarement compares a ceux resultant de la programmation d'une simulation numerique de l'objet tangible utilise. Cet article presente les resultats d'une telle etude comparative. Celle-ci cherche a determiner si ces deux situations amenent a des differences significatives dans l'apprentissage de concepts cles de la programmation. Les participants a cette etude ont ete separes en deux groupes : un programmant une carte electronique (la BBC micro:bit), l'autre programmant une simulation de cette carte. Les resultats montrent qu'il y a un apprentissage des concepts fondamentaux de la programmation quel que soit le groupe. Cependant, aucune difference significative n'a ete constatee lorsque les gains d'apprentissage ont ete compares entre les deux groupes.

Physical computing is about programming and interacting with a tangible object to learn fundamental concepts of Computer Science (CS). This approach presents several benefits regarding motivation, creativity, and learning gains. Yet, these learning gains hardly are compared with those resulting from the programming of a simulation of a tangible object. In this article we present the results of a comparative study that has been conducted to explore this issue. With this study, we aimed to determine whether the programming of a tangible object or its digital simulation yields significantly different learning gains. In the experiment we conducted, participants (aged 14-17 with little or no prior programming knowledge) were divided into two groups: one programmed a tangible electronic board (the BBC micro:bit) while the other programmed a simulation of it. The results of this experiment suggest that, while each group significantly improved their understandings of fundamental CS concepts (i.e., variables, conditions, and loops), no significant difference was found when comparing the learning gains between the two groups.

Learning elementary Computer Science (CS) concepts can often be difficult for young students. The literature presents two main practices to introduce programming: using digital environments (e.g., integrated development environments, command-line tools) or exploiting manipulations on programmable tangible objects such as robots. This second practice has recently gained traction thanks to the positive results concerning the use of programmable objects in introductory programming courses. However, and to the best of our knowledge, there is no study comparing learning gains between 'digital' and 'physical' computing. Our study focuses on highlighting possible differences between these two practices to learn CS at an introductory level. We compare the learning progress of two groups of students (total=36, male=27, female=9, aged 14-17) with little or no previous knowledge of programming; both groups are presented with the same pre-test, programming exercises, and post-test. All participants exploit a block-based programming environment to do the exercises and program either a tangible BBC micro:bit card or its digital simulation. The proposed programming exercises concern basic CS concepts: variables, conditional structures, and iterative structures. By running their programs on the tangible or digital card, students are able to visualize the results of their exercises thanks to the grid of LEDs that is present on the BBC micro:bit. Our objective is to determine if the learning of a specific CS concept is better achieved through the programming of a tangible object or an exact equivalent digital simulation of it. A statistical analysis will be presented to evaluate the results of this experiment.

ISEP-R0B0 is a project which combines a small programmable robot and a visual 1 programming language. Its goal is to provide a full-fledged system at a very low cost, 2 targeting schools but also informal learning situations such as after-class activities. 3 Through the programming and observation of the behavior of the robot, students can 4 learn notions either related to Computer Science or Science, Technology, Engineering, 5 and Mathematics. Since ISEP-R0B0 is still at an early stage, this article focuses on 6 introducing the design of the system and two case studies we plan on conducting shortly. 7 Introduction and Context 8 Research in Computer Science Education (CSE) has long tried to introduce robots 9 in programming courses. Oftentimes, the objective is to foster students’ interest and 10 creativity through “the design of tangible and interactive object using programmable 11 hardware” [14], also known as physical computing. In this regard, results indicate 12 that students experience an increase in motivation [7, 17] and that underrepresented 13 populations in Computer Science (CS) courses feel empowered [16]. However, learning 14 outcomes can vary depending on the context and course taught [2, 4]. 15 Two aspects of programming often cause difficulties to beginners [3,9]: the complexity 16 of a programming language and the structural instructions of a programming algorithm. 17 By focusing on the design of algorithms rather than on the code implementation itself, 18 Visual Programming Languages (VPL) can alleviate these two issues. We can mention 19 the cases of Scratch [12] and App Inventor [6] which were both used to teach fundamental 20 CS principles. A more recent example is the BBC micro:bit project, from which the 21 design of ISEP-R0B0 is inspired. The micro:bit is a “pocket-sized, codeable computing 22 device” which is programmable with an online block-based VPL [1]. Though useful as a 23 tool to foster creativity and increase motivation [17], we could not find any publication 24 identifying the effects of using the micro:bit in acquiring CS and programming knowledge. 25 ISEP-R0B0 is composed of a programmable robot and a VPL. We expect learners to 26 program ISEP-R0B0, and to see the robot itself as a playful tool for the embodiment 27 of CS or Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) concepts. Other 28 systems using block-based VPLs were previously designed with similar intents: .NET 29 Gadgeteer [7], LEGO Mindstorms [2], Thymio-II [10], and more recently micro:bit [1]. 30 However, distinctions can be drawn on the granularity of each VPL and on the cost 31 of each product. Indeed, ISEP-R0B0 provides low-level instruction blocks of code to 32 program the robot (in opposition to LEGO Mindstorms or .NET Gadgeteer which 33

In technology-enhanced learning, orchestration technologies refer to computer systems that support teachers in the orchestration of learning applications. Due to the specificity and diversity of each learning application, the use of these orchestration technologies is often not adequate in situations that they were not designed for in the first place. In this article, we tackle this issue and present the software framework Chao. This framework has been designed to provide a set of classes, methods, and user interfaces to facilitate the development of orchestration technologies for tablets. The evaluation of this framework concerns its design, the usability of its user interfaces, and its ability to be adapted for various learning applications. The results suggest that teachers found the instances of the framework useful in assisting them during their orchestration tasks, and that little work is required to instantiate the framework.

Social media is an amazing platform for enhancing public exposure. Anyone, even social bots, can reach out to a vast community and expose one's opinion. But what happens when fake news is (un)intentionally spread within a social media This paper reviews techniques that can be used to fabricate fake news and depicts a scenario where social bots evolve in a fully semantic Web to infest social media with automatically generated deceptive information.

L'intérêt pour l'utilisation de tablettes en classe se traduit par le développement d'un grand nombre d'applications éducatives. Cependant, peu de travaux prennent en compte le rôle de l'enseignant dans l'orchestration, c'est-à-dire la préparation en amont et la gestion en temps réel, de ce type de situation. Et lorsque des travaux de recherche proposent de fournir des outils informatiques pour supporter les enseignants dans cette orchestration, les logiciels développés sont souvent spécifiques à un exercice et ne peuvent donc pas être réutilisés pour l’orchestration d’exercices différents. Le travail de cette thèse se place dans ce contexte et vise à fournir une librairie d’outils logiciels pouvant servir de base pour le développement de technologies d’orchestration. Pour cela, je propose (1) une modélisation de l’orchestration d’un scénario pédagogique qui explicite les actions d’orchestration d’un enseignant et sur quoi portent ces actions ; (2) des modèles d’interface utilisateur offrant la possibilité aux enseignants de réaliser ces actions d’orchestration ; (3) un framework logiciel pour tablette facile à instancier implémentant ces modèles d’interface, et dont les instanciations ont pour objectif de supporter efficacement un enseignant dans l’orchestration d’une situation donnée.

This article presents an analysis of the implementation and orchestration challenges raised by turning a traditional paper-based activity (dictation) into a CSCL activity. It illustrates how implementing a CSCL version of a classical teaching setting can raise many new issues for teachers. Teachers must make design (scripting) decisions at different stages, both before and during the session. Some support must therefore be provided, such as means to manage learner productions, focus learner tasks or support learner interactions in different ways. Although the concerns identified and the features implemented here relate to a particular study, they may have a wider scope of application.