Challenges of teaching Computer Science

Abstract

In this article, we will analyze different teaching and learning situations identified in primary and secondary schools when delivering inquiry based computer programming classes. Specifically, we will work on data obtained during the two years that our team offered a teacher proffesional development course in teaching computer programming. These data includes pre and post teachers’ survey who participated in the course and transfered what they learned in the professional development to their classrooms. Tutor’s -Computer Science advance students- who attended the lessons and supported teachers with the implementation of teaching programming, observed and recorded the lessons. We triangulated classroom observations with pre and post teacher survery and identified different experiences when introducing the teaching of computer programming in schools. We identified four situations along these two years. These situations challenge the traditional structure of formal schooling.