The Development of Internationalized Computational Thinking Curriculum in Hong Kong Primary Education (Abstract Only).

Computational Thinking (CT) has been widely introduced and investigated in recent years, particularly in the U.S. since the born of visual, block-based, drag-drop programming environments such as Kodu, Scratch, Minecraft and App Inventor. Although the user interface is mainly in English, the characteristics of these easy-to-use, game-based, and interactive tools attract many teachers and researchers in the world to pay much attention to the possibilities and opportunities of introducing these tools to students. Recently, some primary school teachers in Hong Kong begin to independently introduce some of these programming tools to students at age 7 - 11 as a part of learning activities in their computer lessons. Their motives are similar but not the same, such as making a fun learning and teaching experience, motivating students for active and collaborative participation, and introducing CT concepts to develop generic skills (e.g. problem solving skills, creativity, and critical thinking). However, there is an absence of well-developed and planned curriculum for "coding education" to introduce computational thinking systematically to students in the local context with expected learning outcomes. Due to the uniqueness of K-12 curriculum in Hong Kong, the existing curriculum model in the U.S. may need to be customized and redesigned to become suitable for integrating into the curriculum in Hong Kong. In this poster, it describes the first proposed coding education curriculum in Hong Kong primary education (Primary 4 to Primary 6) with relevant objectives, structures, contents, and learning outcomes. A new pedagogical design framework for CT is introduced in this poster, which could be generalizable and yet to be evaluated. This new curriculum will serve as the curriculum guide to local teachers, and is the first research initiative of a three-year longitudinal study investigating the impact of CT activities to students particularly in Hong Kong. The experience of this curriculum development for CT concepts in K-12 education can inspire teachers and researchers in other parts of the world when adopting and internationalizing CT activities based on the curriculum model developed under the U.S. education.