Computer Science Education - In Search of Identity
Combining general education and the fostering of those interested
Wishes for a computer science subject in schools are numerous. They range from a pure "computer course", to ensuring an extended general education in the digital age, to reducing the shortage of skilled workers by attracting more students and especially female students to computer science. From a teaching point of view, the challenge is to classify these interests and to create a coherent offer for schools.
With regard to the development of school computer science since the 1970s, a trend can be observed in retrospect which, starting from a strongly mathematical-algorithmic orientation, increasingly shifts the topics and learning objectives towards applicability in later everyday working life. This change always followed the advancing digitalization of the everyday world, in which computers were initially used for complex calculations, but later became available as PCs in offices and at home. Thus, "computer science" gradually became "ICT" teaching, which had clearly shifted away from the reference science. Of course, the science had also developed rapidly since the 1970s and moved from a subfield of mathematics to an engineering science that uses deductive, formal methods as well as empirical and constructive procedures. From the 1990s onwards, subject teaching models emerged as a "counter-design", which put computer science back into the center of the school subject. To this day, the "signature" of these models can be seen in the teaching of computer science in the various German states. It is about the fundamental ideas of computer science, the concept of information and the modeling of information-processing processes as well as the (de)construction of informatic systems.
In the ensuing 25 years or so, both computer science as a science and the digitization of everyday life have continued to develop. The analysis of large amounts of data, supported by machine learning methods, is changing the methods of gaining knowledge in almost all areas of science, while at the same time raising many ethical questions. While quantum computers will not push the boundaries of automation, they will nevertheless massively change the previous rules of the digital world, for example with regard to the security of encryption procedures.
Computer science lessons can only deal with these topics in an exemplary or limited manner. A modern neural network cannot be understood using school mathematics, but powerful software can allow experiments to be carried out in computer science lessons. The teaching ideas of "CS unplugged" - computer science without computers - also reflect this development. A kind of backward movement to the algorithmic beginnings of school computer science is emerging at the same time, e.g., using the idea of computational thinking: Problem solving with the help of automation is understood as a general educational core beyond the subject, which has lifelong relevance for learners and differs from other types of problem solving. Also, computer science as a school subject must (in the sense of the KMK) contribute to the media education of the learners: How do the internet and the smartphone work? Where do automatically generated suggestions on web pages come from?
Thus, the gap to be bridged is very large. To some extent, the discrepancies can be resolved logically at school, for example through a differing focus in secondary levels I and II or through opportunities for voluntary in-depth study in addition to a compulsory subject. This allows a combination of general education and support for those interested. In part, however, they remain inextricably linked - computer courses and computer science have little to do with each other - and, exacerbated by the comparatively little standardization of curricula to date, create a heterogeneous landscape of "computer science" in schools - even starting with the name of the subject.
Integrating the prospects
If we take a look at the currently relevant models of subject instruction and the existing features of the subject - also internationally - no agreement exists on what exactly computer science in schools needs to look like in the year 2023. Nevertheless, it can be stated that across many of the approaches, the process-related competencies receive special attention: Modeling, (de)construction, structured decomposition as one of the fundamental ideas, the process-related competencies of the educational standards of the German Society for Informatics. The US-American "K-12 computer science framework" practices exist as an equal pillar alongside concepts.
Data processing processes form the core of science as well as the core of digital technologies. The design, formal modeling and optimization of these processes - along with fundamental questions about their limitations - remain the essential focus of computer scientists' activities to this day, both in science and in business. The development of software, the identification and elimination of weaknesses in systems - e.g., security vulnerabilities or excessive resource requirements - are processes that require a well-connected knowledge base as well as communicative and iteratively improving problem solving.
In terms of subject propaedeutic, it makes sense to focus on these activities in school computer science as well and thus to promote a (subject-specific) identity development of the learners. In the sense of legitimate peripheral participation - as part of the theory of community of practice or situated learning - the students thus already perceive themselves as computer scientists. A systematic literature review on identity in school computing shows that this approach is discussed internationally specifically to promote diversity and increase retention, but also to foster learning success. Ultimately, computational thinking also describes precisely such a process in terms of a problem-solving activity, albeit not a specifically subject-specific one. It remains to be seen, however, whether this supra-disciplinary skill arises emergently from computer science teaching or whether it requires explicit teaching. This lies not least in the great conceptual vagueness behind this concept.
There also remains the claim to general media education, which does not seem to fit directly into this orientation of the subject, as knowledge about certain aspects of digital systems tends to play a greater role here. The question of how safe it is to use a certain messenger app is initially not something that follows the development process described above. However, since the process-related competencies can ultimately be practiced in class (only) on the basis of a specific context, this does not necessarily result in a contradiction; rather, it results in requirements for the contexts or topics that must be addressed in computer science classes. For example, an attempt could be made in class to design a secure data transmission system and then compare it with existing systems for evaluation.
Prof. Dr. Andreas Mühling
has been responsible for computer science education at Kiel University since 2016. He is the head of the Computer Science Education Group, which was recently established with Kiel University at the IPN.
Further literature
Große-Bölting, G., Gerstenberger, D., Gildehaus, L., Mühling, A., & Schulte, C. (2021). Identity in K-12 Computer Education Research. A Systematic Literature Review. In A. J. Ko, J. Vahrenhold, R. McCauley, & M. Hauswirth (Eds.), Proceedings of the 17th ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research. New York: ACM.
