Bücher von Roland Mittermeir

Informatics Education - Supporting Computational Thinking contains papers presented at the Third International Conference on Informatics in Secondary Schools - Evolution and Perspective, ISSEP 2008, held in July 2008 in Torun, Poland. As with the proceedings of the two previous ISSEP conferences (2005 in Klag- furt, Austria, and 2006 in Vilnius, Lithuania), the papers presented in this volume address issues of informatics education transcending national boundaries and, the- fore, transcending differences in the various national legislation and organization of the educational system. Observing these issues, one might notice a trend. The p- ceedings of the First ISSEP were termed From Computer Literacy to Informatics F- damentals [1]. There, broad room was given to general education in ICT. The ECDL, the European Computer Driving License, propagated since the late 1990s, had pe- trated school at this time already on a broad scale and teachers, parents, as well as pupils were rather happy with this situation. Teachers had material that had a clear scope, was relatively easy to teach, and especially easy to examine. Parents had the assurance that their children learn "e;modern and relevant stuff,"e; and for kids the c- puter was sufficiently modern so that anything that had to do with computers was c- sidered to be attractive. Moreover, the difficulties of programming marking the early days of informatics education in school seemed no longer relevant. Some colleagues had a more distant vision though.

Although the school system is subject to specific national regulations, didactical issues warrant discussion on an international level. This applies specifically to informatics didactics. In contrast to most other scientific disciplines, informatics undergoes substantial technical and scientific changes and shifts of paradigms even at the basic level taught in secondary school. Moreover, informatics education is under more stringent observation from parents, potential employers, and policy makers than other disciplines. It is considered to be a modern discipline. Hence, being well-educated in informatics seemingly ensures good job perspectives. Further, policy makers pay attention to informatics education, hoping that a young population well-educated in this modern technology will contribute to the future wealth of the nation. But are such high aspirations justified? What should school aim at in order to live up to such expectations? ISSEP 2005, the 1st International Conference on Informatics in Secondary Schools - Evolution and Perspectives already showed that informatics teachers have to bridge a wide gap [1, 2]. On one hand, they have to show the inherent properties that informatics (or computer science) can contribute to general education. On the other hand, they are to make pupils computer literate. Under the constraint of limited time available for instruction, these different educational aims come into conflict. Computer-supported teaching or eLearning is to be considered distinct from informatics education. However, in many countries, informatics teachers still have to support the eTeaching activities of their colleagues.