More Web Proxy on the site http://driver.im/

research-article

A CS unplugged design pattern

Authors:

Tomohiro Nishida,

Susumu Kanemune,

Yasushi KunoAuthors Info & Claims

ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, Volume 41, Issue 1

Pages 231 - 235

https://doi.org/10.1145/1539024.1508951

Published: 04 March 2009 Publication History

Abstract

"Computer Science (CS) Unplugged" is an educational method for introducing non-specialists to concepts of CS through hands-on activities that don't require the use of a computer. Often the deeper concepts of CS have been considered as being too difficult for elementary and middle school students, and many educators teaching "IT" are not even aware of the richness of the topic. CS Unplugged methods have been used successfully with students of a wide range of ages. In this paper, we analyze the structure of CS Unplugged activities to identify the elements that make them work well. Based on the analysis, we propose a design pattern which will be useful as a guideline for developing new activities, and to revise existing ones. We also describe our experience developing original teaching material, using the pattern as a benchmark for evaluation.

References

[1]

Rick Rashid: Inspiring a New Generation of Computer Scientists, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 51, No. 7, pp. 33--34, 2008.

Digital Library

[2]

Tim Bell, Ian H. Witten, Mike Fellows: Computer Science Unplugged-An enrichment and extension programme for primary-aged children, 2005. http://csunplugged.com/

[3]

Tim Bell, Ian H. Witten, Mike Fellows: Computer Science Unplugged: off-line activities and games for all ages, 1999.

[4]

Lee WonGyu (translation): Computer Science Unplugged (Korean Version), Hongreung Science Publishing, 2006.

[5]

Susumu Kanemune et al. (translation): Computer Science Unplugged (Japanese Version), Etext, 2007.

[6]

Tomohiro Nishida et al.: New Methodology of Information Education with "Computer Science Unplugged", ISSEP 2008 Proceedings, LNCS 5090, Springer, pp. 241--252, 2008.

Digital Library

[7]

Yukio Idosaka et al.: A Practical Approach for Elementary Schoolchildren with "Computer Science Unplugged", Proceedings of SSS2008, pp. 25--32, 2008. (In Japanese)

[8]

Yayoi Hofuku et al.: Using CS Unplugged in High School Information-B Classes, Proceedings of SSS2008, pp. 201--206, 2008. (In Japanese)

[9]

Hiroki Manabe et al.: Information Education in a Vocational Training School for Persons with Disabilities, Proceedings of SSS2008, pp. 171--178, 2008.(In Japanese)

[10]

ACM K-12 Task Force Curriculum Committee: ACM K-12 CS Model Curriculum, 2nd Edition, 2003. http://csta.acm.org/Curriculum/sub/ACMK12CSModel.html

[11]

Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John Vlissides: Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software, Addison-Wesley, 1995.

Digital Library

[12]

Joseph Bergin: Fourteen Pedagogical Patterns. http://csis.pace.edu/~bergin/PedPat1.3.html

[13]

Andrew Begel, Daniel D. Garcia and Steven A. Wolfman: Kinesthetic learning in the classroom, SIGCSE Bull., 36(1), 183--184, 2004.

Digital Library

[14]

Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, and Murray Silverstein: A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction, Oxford University Press, 1977.

[15]

Martin Fowler: Analysis Patterns: Reusable Object Models, Addison-Wesley, 1996.

Digital Library

[16]

Pattern Languages of Programs. http://hillside.net/conferences/plop.htm

[17]

James Coplien: Software Patterns, 1996. http://sites.google.com/a/gertrudandcope.com/info/Publications/Patterns/WhitePaper

[18]

Paul Curzon: Computing Without Computers. http://www.dcs.qmul.ac. uk/~pc/research/education/puzzles/reading/

Cited By

Tonbuloğlu İ(2025)Tools and Resources for K-12 Computer Science EducationEffective Computer Science Education in K-12 Classrooms10.4018/979-8-3693-4542-9.ch013(349-372)Online publication date: 24-Jan-2025
https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3693-4542-9.ch013
Machuqueiro FPiedade J(2024)Game On: A Journey into Computational Thinking with Modern Board Games in Portuguese Primary EducationEducation Sciences10.3390/educsci1411118214:11(1182)Online publication date: 29-Oct-2024
https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14111182
Liao YKim JOttenbreit-Leftwich AKarlin MGuo M(2024)Voices of Elementary Computer Science Teachers: Computer Science Integration Rationales and PracticesACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/368885424:4(1-26)Online publication date: 16-Aug-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3688854
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

A CS unplugged design pattern
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education
      1. Computing education programs
        Computer science education

Recommendations

The effect of CS unplugged on middle-school students' views of CS
ITiCSE '09

Many students hold incorrect views of what computer science (CS) is, and they have negative attitudes towards the field. In order to address these difficulties, a series of learning activities called Computer Science Unplugged was developed by Bell et ...
Assessing Computational Thinking in CS Unplugged Activities
SIGCSE '17: Proceedings of the 2017 ACM SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

Computer Science (CS) Unplugged activities have been deployed in many informal settings to present computing concepts in an engaging manner. To justify use in the classroom, however, it is critical for activities to have a strong educational component. ...
CS Unplugged and Middle-School Students’ Views, Attitudes, and Intentions Regarding CS

Many students hold incorrect ideas and negative attitudes about computer science (CS). In order to address these difficulties, a series of learning activities called Computer Science Unplugged was developed by Tim Bell and his colleagues. These ...

Comments

Please enable JavaScript to view thecomments powered by Disqus.

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM SIGCSE Bulletin

ACM SIGCSE Bulletin Volume 41, Issue 1

SIGCSE '09

March 2009

553 pages

ISSN:0097-8418

DOI:10.1145/1539024

Issue’s Table of Contents

SIGCSE '09: Proceedings of the 40th ACM technical symposium on Computer science education
March 2009
612 pages
ISBN:9781605581835
DOI:10.1145/1508865
General Chairs:
Sue Fitzgerald
Metropolitan State University
,
Mark Guzdial
Georgia Institute of Technology
,
Program Chairs:
Gary Lewandowski
Xavier University
,
Steven Wolfman
University of British Columbia

Copyright © 2009 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 04 March 2009

Published in SIGCSE Volume 41, Issue 1

Check for updates

Author Tags

Qualifiers

Research-article

Contributors

Other Metrics

View Article Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

62
Total Citations
View Citations
1,037
Total Downloads

Downloads (Last 12 months)83
Downloads (Last 6 weeks)12

Reflects downloads up to 11 Dec 2024

Other Metrics

View Author Metrics

Citations

Cited By

Tonbuloğlu İ(2025)Tools and Resources for K-12 Computer Science EducationEffective Computer Science Education in K-12 Classrooms10.4018/979-8-3693-4542-9.ch013(349-372)Online publication date: 24-Jan-2025
https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3693-4542-9.ch013
Machuqueiro FPiedade J(2024)Game On: A Journey into Computational Thinking with Modern Board Games in Portuguese Primary EducationEducation Sciences10.3390/educsci1411118214:11(1182)Online publication date: 29-Oct-2024
https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14111182
Liao YKim JOttenbreit-Leftwich AKarlin MGuo M(2024)Voices of Elementary Computer Science Teachers: Computer Science Integration Rationales and PracticesACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/368885424:4(1-26)Online publication date: 16-Aug-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3688854
Song YTian XRegatti NKatuka GBoyer KIsrael MStephenson BStone JBattestilli LRebelsky SShoop L(2024)Artificial Intelligence Unplugged: Designing Unplugged Activities for a Conversational AI Summer CampProceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3626252.3630783(1272-1278)Online publication date: 7-Mar-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626252.3630783
Agbo FOkpanachi LOcheja POyelere SSani G(2024)How can unplugged approach facilitate novice students’ understanding of computational thinking? An exploratory study from a Nigerian universityThinking Skills and Creativity10.1016/j.tsc.2023.10145851(101458)Online publication date: Mar-2024
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2023.101458
Zhang YLiang YTian XYu X(2024)The effects of unplugged programming activities on K-9 students’ computational thinking: meta-analysisEducational technology research and development10.1007/s11423-023-10339-5Online publication date: 8-Jan-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-023-10339-5
Jiménez MZapata-Cáceres MRomán-González MRobles GMoreno-León JMartín-Barroso E(2024)Computational Concepts and their Assessment in Preschool Students: An Empirical StudyJournal of Science Education and Technology10.1007/s10956-024-10142-833:6(998-1020)Online publication date: 9-Oct-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-024-10142-8
Adanır GDelen IGulbahar Y(2024)Research trends in K-5 computational thinking education: a bibliometric analysis and ideas to move forwardEducation and Information Technologies10.1007/s10639-023-11974-429:3(3589-3614)Online publication date: 1-Feb-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10639-023-11974-4
Ren MPerekietka PNitschke Ł(2024)From Caesar Shifts to Kid-Enigma. The CS Unplugged-Like Path in the MuMa Science CentreCreative Mathematical Sciences Communication10.1007/978-3-031-73257-7_15(185-193)Online publication date: 7-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-031-73257-7_15
Chichekian TTrudeau JJawhar TCorliss D(2023)Experimenting with computational thinking for knowledge transfer in engineering roboticsJournal of Computer Assisted Learning10.1111/jcal.1292140:2(859-875)Online publication date: 12-Dec-2023
https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12921
Show More Cited By

View Options

Login options

Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

Full Access

Get this Publication

View options

PDF

View or Download as a PDF file.

eReader

View online with eReader.

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

View Issue’s Table of Contents