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Introduction and Aims: In October 2020, New Zealanders will vote on whether cannabis should be legalised for recreational use. With this in mind, the aim of the present study is to gauge the views and opinions of the New Zealand population on cannabis via tweets. To achieve this, we conducted a sentiment analysis of all historic cannabis‐related tweets and referendum‐specific tweets written in New Zealand. Design and Methods: We used a Twitter‐sponsored commercial platform to access all historic cannabis‐related tweets written in New Zealand and used search terms to remove non‐cannabis‐related terms. Next, we used the platform's machine learning function to code the sentiment of tweets (i.e. positive/pro‐cannabis, negative/anti‐cannabis or neutral). Results: Between July 2009 and August 2020, 304 760 cannabis‐related tweets were written in New Zealand. Overall, the tweets were predominantly positive (62.0%) and there was a higher proportion of positive tweets written in 2020 (65.3%) compared to negative or neutral tweets. Similarly, for referendum‐specific tweets, the 2020 data reveal a generally positive view of cannabis (53.5%). Discussion and Conclusions: Both cannabis‐related, and referendum‐specific tweets, suggest that Twitter users in New Zealand have a generally positive view of cannabis. Given the nature of Twitter, the current method will allow us to study whether views toward cannabis change as the referendum nears and capture any late swings in pro‐ or anti‐cannabis sentiment (abcd‐lab.shinyapps.io/cannabis_sentiment/). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent government moves in many countries have seen coding included in school curricula, or promoted as part of computing, mathematics or science programmes. While these moves have generally been associated with a need to engage more young people in technology study, research has hinted at possible benefits from learning to program including fostering general thinking skills. However, little research has been carried out exploring these ideas. This study analysed data collected while 5- and 6-year-old students in a New Zealand primary school were using Scratch Jnr. to learn about basic shapes, as part of a numeracy topic. Analysis combined Brennan and Resnick's (2012) computational thinking skills framework and Krathwohl's (2002) revision of Bloom's Taxonomy to evaluate any role general thinking skills played in these students' coding work. Results suggest including basic coding in primary curricula provides teachers with an effective means of exercising their students' general and higher order thinking skills. They build on Brennan and Resnick's (2012) framework by including conceptualization as an important element in students' computational work and highlight the role of predictive thinking in debugging code. Findings support historical arguments that more needs to be done to investigate students' cognitive processes when undertaking computational work. Lay description What is already known about the topic: Computational learning is an emerging area of school curricula;, Limited research exists exploring thinking processes within computational learning;, Early studies challenge more recent claims of thinking skill transfer from computational work., What this paper adds: Computational work supports a range of general and higher order thinking skills;, Task design and teacher skills are critical to achieving higher order thinking outcomes from computational work;, Computational work in teams can support collaborative, cooperative and self-management key competencies., Implications for practice and/or policy: Findings broaden the base of empirical support for including computational work in school curricula;, Coding provides an engaging means of exercising complex thinking skills and key competencies in students;, The data methods used provide teachers with visible evidence of students' thinking processes during computational work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problems encountered by students in first year computer programming units are a common concern in many universities, including Victoria University. As a fundamental component of a computer science curriculum computer programming is a mandatory unit. It is also one of the most challenging units for many commencing students who often drop out from a computing course as a consequence of having failed, or performed poorly, in an introductory programming unit. This paper reports on a research project undertaken to develop and implement a strategy to improve the learning outcomes of novice programming students. Aimed at 'befriending' computer programming to help promote success among new programming students, the strategy incorporates the use of analogy, collaboration, mentoring sessions, and electronic support. The paper describes the elements of the strategy and discusses the results of its implementation in semester 1, 2007. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]