COCONATS is understanding how Software Engineering can be taught to
K-12 students that focus on domain-specific goals

COCONATS exists to facilitate the acquisition of SE principles in K-12, in order to promote learning in other domains and the development of life-skills. The goal will be achieved through a set of modular activities, which could be easily and effectively adapted to traditional K-12 learning environments, with different and progressive levels of complexity.

Why?

COCONATS provides a set of modular activities and an evaluation framework, which will be tightly connected to the modular activities and will integrate several aspects such as Software Engineering learning, social (e.g., interactions) and personal (e.g., problem-solving) skills.

How?

We will design a set of modular activities, by addressing the main challenges in End-User Software Engineering research.

And then?

COCONATS contributes to the solution of the most critical challenges in End-User Software Engineering, such as understanding how SE principles can be taught to K-12 students that focus on domain specific goals. Moreover, COCONATS will provide End-User Software Engineering with a mean to check if teaching Software Engineering to end-users actually leads to the creation of higher quality software. The assessment framework will also represent the basis for possible tools that could propose customized learning paths and self-evaluation modules.

Impact to the community

COCONATS strengthens the relationship between unibz and local schools. Indeed, COCONATS will provide about 300 hours of activities in schools, with about 120 students every year. Furthermore, we foresee a relevant impact at international level, by having an interdisciplinary team that investigates how best to teach computer science to K-12 students.

Team

Ilenia Fronza (Principal Investigator: Send Mail) unibz, Faculty of Computer Science Computer Science
Claus Pahl unibz, Faculty of Computer Science Computer Science
Alessandro Colombi unibz, Faculty of Education Didactics
Demis Basso unibz, Faculty of Education Cognitive Psychology
Boris Sušanj unibz, Faculty of Computer Science Computer Science
Sara Baroni unibz, Facoltà di Scienze e Tecnologie informatiche Didattica e pedagogia speciale
Marina Sartor unibz, Facoltà di Scienze e Tecnologie informatiche Didattica e pedagogia speciale

Events

13 June 2018: Computational Thinking day (CTday 2018), Bressanone, Italy

25-28 July 2018: Presentation "End-User Software Engineering in K-12 by Leveraging Existing Curricular Activities" , ICSOFT'18, Porto, Portugal

2-5 September 2018: Organization of the workshop "Systems of Assessments for Computational Thinking Learning", EC-TEL'18, Leeds, UK

2-7 October 2018: Presentation "Fostering Software Engineering Principles in K-12 through Non-Programming Activities" , SIGITE'18, Fort Lauderdale, FL

2-7 October 2018: Presentation "Towards the Combination of Computational Thinking Didactics and Software Engineering in K-12. Pedagogical and didactical reflections" , SIGITE'18, Fort Lauderdale, FL

17 October 2018: Codeweek & COCONATS - COCONATS open day during the EU Code Week , Bressanone, Italy

25-26 October 2018: An introduction to robotics @ Rendezvous mit dem Traumberuf, Bolzano, Italy

27 October 2018: Tinkering lab at miniNOI, Bolzano, Italy

10 November 2018: Robotics lab at miniNOI, Bolzano, Italy

22-24 November 2018: Presentation "Improving Assessment of Computational Thinking Through a Comprehensive Framework" , Koli Calling, Finland

22-24 November 2018: Presentation "Leveraging Curricular Activities to Foster Software Engineering Principles in Non-Vocational Schools" , Koli Calling, Finland

12 February 2019: Robo Days, Jesolo (VE), Italy

9 May 2019: Family Programming Challenge, Bolzano

28 May 2019: Computational Thinking day (CTday 2019) - presentation of COCONATS activities, Bolzano