Page 28 - Getting the Picture Modeling and Simulation in Secondary Computer Science Education

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Chapter 1
1.3 Research Questions
As seen in the examples in section 1.1, there are numerous attempts to employ CT aspects modeling & simulation within courses other than CS to support the learning of the subject matter in those courses. Modeling & simulation is considered to be a fundamental part of CT (CSTA Computational Thinking Task Force, 2011): modeling builds a bridge where a problem in a particular discipline meets CS by expressing the original problem in computational terms and interpreting the computational solution in the domain where the problem originates. (Barendsen & Bruggink, 2019). To run a simulation with that model, a computational solution is constructed, either by using existing applications or by devising new algorithms and writing new programs, thus clearly engaging in typical CS activities.
We embrace this idea of using CT aspects modeling & simulation to support the learning of the subject matter of various disciplines, but we choose to do so from within a CS course, taking the learning objectives of Computational Science in the Dutch 2019 secondary CS curriculum as our starting point.
There are ample courses that teach modeling, and ample courses that teach scientific inquiry, and ample courses that teach programming. However, we are not aware of research into teaching a combination of these in a CS course, where all three steps of the CT problem-solving process get sufficient attention — in other words, where expressing a problem in computational terms and interpreting computational solution in terms of the original subject matter get as much attention as the construction of an executable computational solution.
Considering our interest in teaching modeling and simulation, we see that a research project that looks into curricular issues, students’ learning, teaching methods, assessment, and professional development of teachers regarding modeling and simulation within a secondary CS course would fit seamlessly into the contemporary CSER program. We are, then, interested in teaching modeling and simulation as described in the new Dutch curriculum, i.e., as generic scientific competences within a CS course meant to equip the students with skills to perform scientific inquiry in any discipline of their interest. We therefore engage in a research project with the main objective to explore the pedagogical aspects of Computational Science and the CS teachers’ PCK for teaching Computational Science.