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• A pedagogically planned and scaffolding scenario-based design teaching process established novice preschool programmers with overall programming skills in a tangible programming context. • Two types of debugging knowledge emerged: i) syntactic and ii) semantic. The second type was revealed to be more complex for children to develop, mainly when two bugs occurred within the same program. • Half of the children presented complete and functional programs. Many children applied effective debugging strategies from their coding experience, although they were not involved in activities focused on debugging. • A dominant debug strategy is composing a 'new program'. Two more strategies emerged: verbal and 'pseudocode'. The present study investigates the debugging process of 526 children in preschool (4–6 aged) when programming a tangible robot. When a child is involved in programming, it is needed to identify and correct errors, or in other words, debug a program. Debugging is a high-level thinking skill and is an essential component closely related to developing Computational Thinking in early childhood education. Though the debugging process is a cognitive function in programming investigated by many researchers in recent decades, most studies are conducted either in primary, secondary education, or higher education concerning beginners or experts in programming. Very few reviews, and some focus on preschool education. Our study set out the following objectives: 1) How do children identify the existence of error and locate it? 2) What types of errors emerge when coding? 3) What type of error is complex for novice programmers? 4) What strategies are developed by novice programmers to debug effectively? and 5) What types of knowledge do novice programmers construct by debugging the tangible robot Bee-Bot? The study follows an iterative model of a design-based research approach. It uses multiple case studies to collect qualitative and quantitative data. The programming intervention was implemented by 30 educators in their classrooms and was based on a scenario-based teaching design. The debugging process was analysed using Klahr & Craven's framework (1988): 1) test and evaluate program, 2) identify bug, 3) represent program, 4) locate bug and 5) correct bug. The main finding is the construction and development of syntactic and semantic knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Databases are general purpose modeling environments that enable problem solving using conceptual frameworks closer to the solver and the problem than the machine architecture. Databases design introduction in the curricula of secondary education programs raises educational research questions and research questions concern the didactics of the subject as well as the value of database design based learning activities.

The computer-supported collaborative problem solving technique is studied and a collaborative problem solving analysis framework is presented. The focus of the research is on the analysis of problem solving as an educational activity.

Abstract: In the present study, we develop and deploy a conceptual framework of “scaffolding” in groupwork learning, through the analysis of the pursuit of a learning goal over time. The analysis follows individuals’ different experiences of an interaction as well as collective experiences, considering individual attainment as a result of a bi-directional contextualized conversation and action. We detect, describe and evaluate two (2) types of interaction that can be characterized as “scaffolding process”: the first concerns “Scaffolding individual thinking” and the second “Scaffolding collective thinking”. The latter, apart from presenting the educational advantages of collective thinking through peer discussion (D) and curriculum-focused evaluation context of Teacher Initiation – Student Response – Teacher Follow up (IRF), also presents the advantage of ‘spiral’ verbal exchanges in which the teacher “tunes in” to the students’ present state of ability or understanding (spiral IDRF). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This study aims at highlighting the collaborative activity of two high school students (age 14) in the cases of modeling the complex biological process of plant growth with two different tools: the ‘paper & pencil’ concept mapping technique and the computer-supported educational environment ‘ModelsCreator’. Students’ shared activity in both cases is carried out in the presence of a facilitator providing technical as well as cognitive support when necessary. The objective of the study is to highlight the ways in which the collaborating students are engaged in the plant growth modeling activity in the two cases and also identify the activity’s similar and different aspects in each one. Our analysis is carried out on two complementary axes, the first of which concerns the process of collaboratively creating a plant growth model with each different tool, while the second has to do with the students’ conceptualizations of the biological aspect of the modeling task in each case. A two-level analytic tool for the modeling process has been derived within the theoretical framework of ‘activity theory’ on the basis of the OCAF scheme for basic modeling operations and the scheme of Stratford et al. [Stratford, S. J., Krajcik, J., & Soloway, E. (1998). Secondary students’ dynamic modeling processes: analyzing, reasoning about, synthesizing, and testing models of stream ecosystems. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 7(3), 215–234.] for higher-order modeling actions. According to our results, four major modeling actions (analysis, synthesis, testing-interpreting, technical and cognitive support) performed through a plethora of modeling operations define the steps of the modeling process in both cases, while specific qualitative differences can be actually identified. Finally, the students’ conceptualizations of the biological aspect of the modeling task in the two-case activity is analyzed in regard with their capability of shifting reasoning between macro- and micro-levels, while educational implications are also discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper examines the effect of heterogeneous resources, available to students, during computer-supported collaborative problem solving. A study of collaborative modeling has been conducted in the frame of an authentic educational activity in a secondary school. The students involved were provided with sets of primitive resources of varying degrees of heterogeneity to be used during synchronous computer-mediated modeling activities. Analysis of students'' peer interaction and of the produced solutions revealed that, contrary to our expectations, the group with heterogeneous resources produced solutions of similar quality to those of the reference group, although they were more active, they exchanged more messages, they were involved in deeper discussions and collaborated more for building the constituent parts of the solution. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]