Prof Looi Chee Kit and Ms Wendy Huang co-published an article in Journal of Computer Science Education

Wendy Huang of OER and Looi Chee Kit of LSA AG, co-published “A critical review of literature on “unplugged” pedagogies in K-12 computer science and computational thinking education” in the Journal of Computer Science Education which is published by Taylor and Francis.  

“Unplugged” activities and pedagogies focus on helping students to understand key concepts in Computational Thinking (CT) without first the use of computers, and may involve paper-based and kinesthetic activities. CT is considered as a valuable literacy for all students, and its inclusion in compulsory schooling, as in several countries, could increase the numbers of underrepresented students who pursue computing-related careers. Computer Science Unplugged (CSU) had success in making computer science (CS) accessible to K–12 students in outreach settings. Such “unplugged” approaches have the potential to do the same in formal education. The paper considers how research findings on unplugged pedagogies might advance CS/CT education priorities, while highlighting areas of unknown and tension. 

Support for this paper was provided by the project grant for “Researching and developing pedagogies using unplugged and computational thinking approaches for teaching computing in the schools” (Project Number: OER 04/16 LCK). The research team has conducted CT awareness sessions for graduating batches of teachers through OTE, as well as an in-service course at AST for Computing teachers.