Computer science/informatics in secondary education

Abstract

Computer Science (CS) Education research, specifically when focusing on secondary education, faces the difficulty of regionally differing political, legal, or curricular constraints. To date, many different studies exist that document the specific regional situations of teaching CS in secondary schools. This ITiCSE working group report documents the process of collecting, evaluating, and integrating research findings about CS in secondary schools from different countries. As an outcome, it presents a category system (Darmstadt Model), as a first step towards a framework that sup-ports future research activities in this field and that supports the transfer of results between researchers and teachers in CS education (CSE) across regional or national boundaries. Exemplary application of the Darmstadt model shows in several important categories how different the situation of CSE in secondary education in various countries can be. The Darmstadt Model (DM) is now ready for discussion and suggestions for improvement by the CSE-community.