ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF THE INTRODUCTION OF A RESEARCH-LED COMPUTER SCIENCE FRAMEWORK FOR PRIMARY EDUCATION IN THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA

Abstract

Primary teachers around the world are being asked to teach computational thinking with little or no prior knowledge and limited support. This dissertation starts with analysing the challenges primary teachers face when teaching a subject new to them, identifying a lack of content and pedagogical content knowledge as a critical hurdle among many. Related situations in other subject areas are identified, where a new perspective on those subject areas has become central, and their approaches explored: the introduction of inquiry science and a more problem-based focus for mathematics both made use of a high-level framework that helped teachers to connect the top-level outcomes with low-level classroom materials provided to them. Computer science education is considered as a tool to develop computational thinking skills among learners, and there are worldwide efforts to implement it at the K-12 education level. However, being a relatively new subject, the teachers face similar challenges as the Mathematics and Science teachers mentioned above. Therefore, drawing on the mathematics/science experience, and on existing frameworks and research findings in CS, a Research-Led Computer Science Framework (RLCSF) that has three major components is presented. These components include the problem domain, computing domain, and problem-solving process, and computational thinking is presented as a modelling activity. The effectiveness of the framework was evaluated in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). To ensure that KSA is an appropriate evaluation context, data was collected from 114 teachers using the METRECC survey tool. This survey work provided detailed insight into the state of the intended and enacted curriculum at the K-12 level in KSA and the challenges the teachers face while teaching CS. The survey reports that the teachers in KSA have a limited understanding of computational thinking and problem-solving, and hence KSA is an appropriate context. For the evaluation, a Professional Development Program (PDP) was developed for teachers in which a teacher training guide was created, and a Professional Development Course (PDC) was conducted to educate the teachers about the way the RLCSF works and can solve the Content Knowledge (CK) and Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) issues. As part of the PDP, other teacher training sessions were conducted during teaching. The researcher not only trained the teachers but also recorded their use of the framework and feedback using mixed-method approaches such as focus group studies, interviews and learners evaluation. To ensure the effectiveness of the results, another training session and interview were conducted with the teachers. The researcher involved one of the experienced group teachers, who is a non-CS background teacher from KSA, in the process of training and presentation. The objective is to investigate if the RLCSF can be transferred by a teacher who can teach the training processes and has recently experienced the framework. The second training guide is text-based, along with a video presentation explaining the examples given in the text guide. The teacher continued to assist teachers during their teaching. In the first semester, the CS teachers were able to use the materials more effectively than the non-CS teachers, but in the second semester, non-CS teachers were also at the same level. Teachers were able to start creating lessons using the material and framework. The results also reflect that the performance of learners from the experimental group was better than that of the control group learners. In the end, the non-CS teachers developed an understanding of why and how to develop computational thinking. The CS teachers had earlier focused only on teaching tools, but they developed an understanding of the importance of computational thinking. The teachers understand that modelling is a critical process in problem-solving. The results are promising and show that teachers are better able to understand different examples in the given curriculum and are able to deliver the contents more effectively.