Presented by: Jim King & Cornelia Connolly
It is the intention of this presentation to query the contended essentiality or inevitability of the integration of Computational Thinking in initial teacher education along the lines of meanings, conditions and goals. Teacher education is one discipline where computational thinking is expected to impact significantly, and future educators are being prepared to present their subject areas using concepts from computational thinking, the idea being that their students will have greater exposure to computing in general. This presentation is a philosophical approach to this development and an opportunity to discuss and put forward possible responses to this challenge.
Presenter Biography:
Jim King is a PhD student at the School of Education at NUI Galway. Previously, Jim was a teacher in Africa and East Asia where he became interested in how globalisation and related technological trends are impacting education, and teacher education, in particular. Computational thinking (CT) is a related and developing trend, and Jim’s research focus is on CT for pre-service teachers.