Bebras-inspired Computational Thinking Primary School Resources Co-created by Computer Science Academics and Teachers

Abstract

This paper describes our process of creating computational thinking (CT) resources for primary school teachers in Ireland. The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment has proposed a revised primary mathematics curriculum with an emphasis on CT skills and problem solving, and some teachers would like to introduce it already on an informal basis. However, CT is not yet part of teacher training. Our motivating question has been: how can teachers without a computer science background deliver CT at primary level in Ireland? Our process involves third-level computer science academics co-creating resources with in-service and pre-service teachers during workshops. The resources comprise a workbook and lesson plans. Our resources are based on tasks from the International Bebras Challenge, a well-known large-scale international CT contest with a reasonably gender-neutral profile of school-age participants. The workbook consists of ten Bebras tasks, each followed by a page of original activities on the theme of the task. A set of ten lesson plans accompanies the workbook. Each lesson plan has information about how to use the corresponding workbook activities in the classroom, where the activity might fit into the existing curriculum, categorisation of the task in terms of eight CT topics, differentiation, and extension activities. This paper explains our process of workshop planning, workbook creation, and lesson plan co-creation. Preliminary evaluation of our process uses teacher feedback.