Prototype of a Recommendation Model with Artificial Intelligence for Computational Thinking Improvement of Secondary Education Students
There is a growing interest in finding new ways to address the difficult task of introducing programming to secondary students for the first time to improve students’ computational thinking (CT) skills. Therefore, extensive research is required in this field. Worldwide, new ways to address this diff...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-05-01
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| Series: | Computers |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-431X/12/6/113 |
| _version_ | 1797595375054356480 |
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| author | Raquel Hijón-Neira Cornelia Connolly Celeste Pizarro Diana Pérez-Marín |
| author_facet | Raquel Hijón-Neira Cornelia Connolly Celeste Pizarro Diana Pérez-Marín |
| author_sort | Raquel Hijón-Neira |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | There is a growing interest in finding new ways to address the difficult task of introducing programming to secondary students for the first time to improve students’ computational thinking (CT) skills. Therefore, extensive research is required in this field. Worldwide, new ways to address this difficult task have been developed: visual execution environments and approaches by text programming or visual programming are among the most popular. This paper addresses the complex task by using a visual execution environment (VEE) to introduce the first programming concepts that should be covered in any introductory programming course. These concepts include variables, input and output, conditionals, loops, arrays, functions, and files. This study explores two approaches to achieve this goal: visual programming (using Scratch) and text programming (using Java) to improve CT. Additionally, it proposes an AI recommendation model into the VEE to further improve the effectiveness of developing CT among secondary education students. This integrated model combines the capabilities of an AI learning system module and a personalized learning module to better address the task at hand. To pursue this task, an experiment has been carried out among 23 preservice secondary teachers’ students in two universities, one in Madrid, Spain, and the other in Galway, Ireland. The overall results showed a significant improvement in the Scratch group. However, when analyzing the results based on specific programming concepts, significance was observed only in the Scratch group, specifically for the Loop concept. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T02:36:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1d116a48069a4feaa460460a6cc3559a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-431X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T02:36:31Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Computers |
| spelling | doaj.art-1d116a48069a4feaa460460a6cc3559a2023-11-18T09:54:13ZengMDPI AGComputers2073-431X2023-05-0112611310.3390/computers12060113Prototype of a Recommendation Model with Artificial Intelligence for Computational Thinking Improvement of Secondary Education StudentsRaquel Hijón-Neira0Cornelia Connolly1Celeste Pizarro2Diana Pérez-Marín3Computer Science Department, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, 28032 Madrid, SpainSchool of Education, National University of Ireland Galway, H91 TK33 Galway, IrelandApplied Mathematics Department, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, 28032 Madrid, SpainComputer Science Department, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, 28032 Madrid, SpainThere is a growing interest in finding new ways to address the difficult task of introducing programming to secondary students for the first time to improve students’ computational thinking (CT) skills. Therefore, extensive research is required in this field. Worldwide, new ways to address this difficult task have been developed: visual execution environments and approaches by text programming or visual programming are among the most popular. This paper addresses the complex task by using a visual execution environment (VEE) to introduce the first programming concepts that should be covered in any introductory programming course. These concepts include variables, input and output, conditionals, loops, arrays, functions, and files. This study explores two approaches to achieve this goal: visual programming (using Scratch) and text programming (using Java) to improve CT. Additionally, it proposes an AI recommendation model into the VEE to further improve the effectiveness of developing CT among secondary education students. This integrated model combines the capabilities of an AI learning system module and a personalized learning module to better address the task at hand. To pursue this task, an experiment has been carried out among 23 preservice secondary teachers’ students in two universities, one in Madrid, Spain, and the other in Galway, Ireland. The overall results showed a significant improvement in the Scratch group. However, when analyzing the results based on specific programming concepts, significance was observed only in the Scratch group, specifically for the Loop concept.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-431X/12/6/113computational thinkingprogrammingsecondary educationpreservice teachersrecommendation model with AI |
| spellingShingle | Raquel Hijón-Neira Cornelia Connolly Celeste Pizarro Diana Pérez-Marín Prototype of a Recommendation Model with Artificial Intelligence for Computational Thinking Improvement of Secondary Education Students Computers computational thinking programming secondary education preservice teachers recommendation model with AI |
| title | Prototype of a Recommendation Model with Artificial Intelligence for Computational Thinking Improvement of Secondary Education Students |
| title_full | Prototype of a Recommendation Model with Artificial Intelligence for Computational Thinking Improvement of Secondary Education Students |
| title_fullStr | Prototype of a Recommendation Model with Artificial Intelligence for Computational Thinking Improvement of Secondary Education Students |
| title_full_unstemmed | Prototype of a Recommendation Model with Artificial Intelligence for Computational Thinking Improvement of Secondary Education Students |
| title_short | Prototype of a Recommendation Model with Artificial Intelligence for Computational Thinking Improvement of Secondary Education Students |
| title_sort | prototype of a recommendation model with artificial intelligence for computational thinking improvement of secondary education students |
| topic | computational thinking programming secondary education preservice teachers recommendation model with AI |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-431X/12/6/113 |
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