Barbara Sabitzer

Johannes Kepler University Linz | JKU · STEM Education

Mobile educational applications (learning apps) have gained significant popularity in classrooms due to their potential to enhance student engagement and improve learning outcomes. However, it is crucial to ensure that these apps not only facilitate educational content but also promote equality, challenge gender stereotypes, and avoid perpetuating...

For a considerable period, there was only a single year of compulsory Computer Science (CS) education in Austria that was required as part of a student's academic career. The mandatory curriculum "Digital Education" (Digitale Grundbildung) was launched in September 2018 for all students in lower secondary education, formally integrating 21st-centur...

Nowadays, digital technologies are crucial in supporting students in geometry in secondary mathematics classrooms. However, in some cases, the role of visual function in technology was only utilized for seeing and conjecturing, not for experimenting, while to develop a relational understanding of geometry concepts, students should actively particip...

Today's teachers play a critical role in preparing students for the integration of educational technologies, such as augmented reality (AR), into their lessons. It is thought that AR implementation improves collaboration, motivation, and learning outcomes. Considering this, this study aims to determine the teachers’ perceptions of the benefits and...

Purpose This research paper aims to provide information about certified learning apps for biological education and gave an ordered list of all learning apps currently used by Austrian biology teachers in the classroom, which should serve as an overview for all biology teachers. In addition, the (currently little known) certification process of lear...

In response to the requirement that every European citizen acquires the skills necessary for enhancing and utilizing digital technology in a critical, inventive, and creative way, the European Digital Competence Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators (DigCompEdu) was developed. In Austria, grade 9 students began taking "Computer Science"...

The underrepresentation of women in the IT sector is a persistent issue that hampers diversity and innovation. The project "Let IT Dance!" addresses this problem by aiming to inspire and engage girls and young women in the IT sector, and related subjects by letting them experience computer science with dance and music. This paper explores the objec...

In Austria, the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF) developed the 8-Point Plan for Digital Education in June 2020, a catalogue of measures aimed at implementing digitally supported teaching and learning and implementing innovative teaching and learning formats at all school locations. The steps include standardization of lea...

Today’s teaching and didactical methods are progressively aiming to integrate digital technologies, computational thinking (CT), and basic computer science concepts into other subjects. An innovative and creative way of combining and integrating CT and teaching cross-curricular skills without digital devices is to include the game Poly-Universe (Po...

Mobile augmented reality (mAR) is considered an innovative, promising, and emerging educational application (app) which has the potential to increase students' motivation, engagement, conceptual knowledge, and learning outcomes. Many studies on (m)AR have been published in recent years, highlighting the different advantages and disadvantages (e.g.,...

Unfortunately, women are still stronglyunderrepresented in STEM professions. This is notonly evident in professional life, but already in thechoice of suitable educational institutions and studies.There are many reasons for this, such as a lack of rolemodels, gender stereotypes, and prejudices that arestill strongly anchored in our society. To coun...

Knowledge and skills from STEM subjects are becoming increasingly important. It is therefore important that these elements be implied in the curriculum of all educational institutions, starting already in elementary education. For this purpose, the training of elementary teachers in this field is very important and indispensable. In Austria, STEM t...

Entdecken Sie Java ist ein Übungsbuch in zwei Teilen, das in die Grundlagen der Programmierung mit Java einführt. Das Übungsbuch wurde nach neurodidaktischen Prinzipien entwickelt, um gehirngerechtes Lernen zu unterstützen. Der Schwerpunkt liegt auf der Methode des entdeckenden Lernens, das einen wichtigen Lernmechanismus des Gehirns nutzt: die aut...

Educational applications (learning apps) are becoming increasingly common in the education sector and many students ask themselves which app can assist in their learning process, promote their academic success, and improve their performance. However, there is an incredibly large selection of apps, and their quality and content are often questionabl...

In Computer Science (CS), modeling with diagrams is a well-known practice to visualize complex software systems or database structures. However, modeling with e.g., entity-relationship diagrams or UML (Unified Modeling Language) is also helpful in other disciplines. In this research, CS models are used as a teaching and learning tool in foreign lan...

Today's teaching and didactical methods are trying more and more to integrate digital technologies and computational thinking (CT) into other subjects. One way of combining and integrating these important skills and CT into all subjects, school levels, and school types is to include the game Poly-Universe (PolyUni). According to the results of the...

The concept of life-long learning has become progressively important over the last few decades. As part of this development the European Digital Competence Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators (DigCompEdu), a scientifically sound framework, responds to the need that every European citizen should gain necessary competences for enhancing...

The impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in its many forms such as machine learning, data mining, learning analytics, etc. is undeniable. It is transforming not only social and economic life, but also education. Thus, the chapter examines the influence of AI on teaching and learning in higher education. For this study, a scoping literature review...

After Jeanette Wing in 2006 described computational thinking (CT) as a fundamental skill for everyone just like reading or arithmetic, it has become a widely discussed topic all over the world. Computational thinking is a problem-solving skill set that is used to tackle problems in computer science. However, these skills, such as pattern recognitio...

Nowadays, there is a high demand for qualified computer scientists and thus, it is important to start increasing computer literacy already at an early age. Although computer science and digital literacy are already becoming dominant topics and are increasingly anchored in the curricula, there is still a mismatch between what students and teachers u...

Children grow up with different mobile devices, at home as well as in elementary school. Interactive picture book applications (IPBA) are one way of combining this digital world with the undisputedly important educational tool of reading aloud. Nevertheless, the application landscape for elementary education is confusing for educators, because of t...

Basic Digital Education (BDE) is already planned to be integrated with the forthcoming curriculum for Austrian primary schools (6–10 years) as it was already implemented for lower secondary schools (10–14 years) in 2018. BDE includes the most essential and novel developments of Computational Thinking (CT), which are fundamentally responsible for nu...

Companies regularly report difficulties in recruiting ICT specialists. The shortage of skilled women in this domain is especially prominent. Research shows that early exposure to STEM may spark children's interest and influence their future choice of careers. Children's understanding and conceptualization of their physical environment strongly infl...

An educational storytelling concept is presented, inspired by the archetypal story pattern common in ancient myths as well as modern day adventures. Software development is a complex profession demanding constant learning and improvement in a field changing almost daily. Apart from learning new technologies and writing computer code, much of a deve...

Lately, computational thinking (CT) has gained popularity as a universal problem-solving technique and is already part of many school curricula. However, many teachers still struggle with its implementation. Therefore, teachers should be introduced to unplugged activities that can be integrated easily into the familiar teaching environment. Modelin...

Though expanding computational thinking to primary school students has become more prevalent, there is a lack of appropriate didactics. Educational robotics offers a possible approach. However, innovations can only find their way into the classroom if teachers find them feasible and meaningful. Thus, appropriate training and further education of te...

Talent development programs are common in Austrian primary and secondary schools. However, when students start to study at university level this trend stops. The need to support gifted students at universities is rarely recognized and hardly ever met in Austria although research shows its importance. Therefore, a concept for supporting students tha...

Robotics is needed as education keeps up with challenges students are facing in a techno- logical environment. A long-term research project focuses on developing a feasible robotics-based learning environment that enables primary school teachers to introduce computer science education. This paper shows educational robotics combining storytelling to...

This Research to Practice Full Paper presents the development of a robotics-based learning environment using an educational design research approach. Contemporary teaching should prepare learners for everyday and working life, suggesting that this can only be achieved by implementing Digital Education from primary education onwards. Since computer...

The increasing importance of introducing computer science and computational thinking in primary education highlights the need to prepare teachers adequately. This study reports on professional teacher training in programming. It draws on the Technology Usage Inventory (TUI) model to investigate how an interdisciplinary intervention with programmabl...

In recent years, the interest in introducing programming activities into the classroom has increased, emphasizing the importance of promoting computational thinking in young learners. Robotics-based learning environments are intended to facilitate the learning of programming at the primary level and support developing skills such as collaboration,...

Interdisciplinary projects have the potential to strengthen creative computational thinking of students and to support the development of their talents. When interdisciplinary projects and real-world problems are combined students are required to use their creativity, academical knowledge and exert interdisciplinary thinking. To develop students’ t...

Wir leben in einer Zeit, in der sich die vierte industrielle Revolution mit einer der größten Herausforderungen der modernen Ge-sellschaft überschneidet: der SARS-COVID-19-Pandemie. Auf-grund des eingeführten "Distance Learning" wurde der Tagesab-lauf der Schülerinnen und Schüler auf den Kopf gestellt. Die meiste Zeit mussten sie ihre schulischen A...

Full Paper Research-to-Practice The current COVID-19 crisis has created significant challenges for schools. The growing importance of "flipping the classroom" and the needful emphasizing of online-learning were owed to the situation. To meet these requirements, materials and tasks must be adapted. The Open Educational Resource (OER) textbook "Compu...

No matter whether young or old, almost everyone likes to play games. Even though digital games have the opportunity to motivate students and foster digital skills, games in an educational context are typically described as a minor matter in class. However, games can provide an environment to work intensively on and consolidate topics from the class...

Egal, ob als Kind oder Erwachsener, Spiele spielen macht Spaß! Spielen fördert die Problemlösefähigkeit, trainiert soziale Kompetenzen und stärkt den Zusammenhalt. Damit der Spielspaß auch in der Schule nicht zu kurz kommt, hat das COOL Lab der Johannes Kepler Universität Linz im Frühjahr 2020 das erste Mal einen Online-Wettbewerb ausgerufen. Bei d...

Technology is rapidly changing the world around us and thus, there is a need to adjust education by teaching children skills that are required in the fast-paced digital life. One problem-solving skillset, which has gained considerable attention in the last couple of years, is computational thinking (CT). Up to now, many countries have already imple...

This paper assesses the impact of Covid-19 restrictions on learning conditions with focus on the Austrian educational system. It presents an overview of the strategies pursued by the government and other relevant stakeholders and evaluates the effects of the restrictive measures on entrenched educational practices. By gathering data on different ta...

The need for digital education from an early age is undisputed today. In the years to come, computer science education is to be integrated more intensively into early education and thus find its way into primary school. Since it is planned to be anchored in the Austrian primary school curriculum, research into teaching methods and content suitable...

During the last decade, escape rooms have become a popular place of amusement. Escape the Room is best described as a combination of LARP (Live Action Role Play), scavenger hunt, and Sherlock Holmes. The players are immersed in a scenario and have a set amount of time to solve a variety of puzzles using the materials and information provided to mov...

The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze a course with programmable robots in order to evaluate challenges and opportunities of robotics in primary education and to identify factors for an introduction of playful programming and a successful implementation to computer science education at primary schools. Created with the aim of fosteri...

Digitalisierung ist eine der großen Herausforderungen für die weltweiten und auch nationalen Bildungssysteme. Auch in Österreich wurden aufgrund der fortschreitenden Digitalisierung in der Vergangenheit einzelne Digitalisierungsinitiativen und unzählige Projekte des Bildungsministeriums ins Leben gerufen. Jedoch haben E-Learning und digitale Bildun...

The Children’s Congress is an event, developed to meet a demand for strengthening computational thinking and to increase the interest in STEAM subjects. This congress brings teachers, university students and pupils together to work interdisciplinary on real-life problems. During these proceedings, the pupils slip into the role of researchers and sc...

As long ago as 1988, Austria introduced the subject "Computer Science'" in grade 9. Quite a long time there was solely this one year of mandatory IT-education during school career. In 2011, all European countries had digital education policies in place, either as standalone policies or as part of a national ICT strategy. The strategic weight of the...

Despite great effort in research and teaching as well as in raising women's quotas in the public sector and in enterprises, a gender gap in computer science can still be observed. The reasons are manifold, including the lack of interest of girls because of existing stereotypes of male nerds, misconceptions in the field of computer science, and conc...

When Austria introduced the new mandatory subject “Basic Digital Education” in September 2018, computational thinking finally made it into the curriculum. Schools can choose to offer specific subjects or dispense the content into already existing subjects where seen fit. But research shows that it is better to implement computational thinking in ot...

Algorithmic thinking is a central concept in the context of computational thinking, and it is commonly taught by computer programming. A recent trend is to introduce basic programming concepts already very early on at primary school level. There are, however, several challenges in teaching programming at this level: Schools and teachers are often n...

Programming is difficult" society tells us. However, this is only partly due to the subject itself. Very often, the tasks in software development are related to mathematical problems, which themselves are considered as difficult because they have no relation to the student's world of experience. Programming exams contribute to high drop-out rates a...

The use of game elements in the real world is part of a trending topic in science, called "gamification". Game developers and companies are using gamification tools and the knowledge about player types and their characteristics, to successfully affect the behaviour of their players or customers. The success of apps like "Adidas Running" and "Pokemo...

This paper describes an experiment with gifted secondary school students from fifth to eighth grade. The students were presented with a strategy game and challenged to solve different tasks together. This was done by having the students try out the game in different ways, model, and print their own version of the game in 3D and develop a life-size...

Which level of computational thinking (CT) skills is required to perform a BBC micro:bit external sensor experiment? The single-board computer BBC micro:bit combined with block-based programming (aka visual coding) is strongly connected to computational thinking and basic digital education in secondary schools. When teaching, each experiment has di...

The Children’s Congress at the Johannes Kepler University in Linz is a project that supports and promotes pupils in their research interests, digital competencies, creativity, collaborating abilities and problem solving. For this, the pupils slip into the role of researchers and scientists and try to solve a real-world problem by using strategies f...

Effective learning is always an active process where students should create and construct their knowledge themselves. To support this independent work, creative strategies for elaborating, structuring, visualizing and memorizing learning contents are welcome in every domain. They are especially useful in subjects considered as difficult or for stud...

Modeling or building models is a widely spread concept that includes several competences relevant for every domain. Our Erasmus+ project "Modeling at school", hence, aims at integrating modeling techniques from the field of computer science such as class or activity diagrams in order to support teaching and learning in all subjects and levels of pr...

The Children’s Congress is an event, developed to meet a demand for strengthening computational thinking and increasing the interest in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) subjects. This congress brings teachers, university students and pupils together to work on interdisciplinary real-life problems. During these proceedi...

Is computer science in primary school still a fairy tale? The buzzwords basic digital education, computational thinking and classroom 4.0 are now an indispensable part of Austrian education, at least in secondary schools. The integration of early computer science into the school curriculum has become increasingly important, especially in places and...

Interdisciplinary projects can support students in their creativity and challenge them in their academic knowledge. This leads to students that are more motivated and therefore higher achieving. Especially gifted students need these extra challenges to develop their full potential. Based on this research, a talent club for gifted students of primar...

Jeannette Wing defines computational thinking as fundamental skill for everyone. When Austria introduced the new mandatory subject "basic digital education" in September 2018 for all students in grade 6, computational thinking finally found its way into the school system. Schools can decide if they offer specific subjects or if they implement the c...

Scratch and other block-based programming environments are popular and successful in engaging young learners with basic concepts of programming. It is common, and intentional, that programming with Scratch is done using an explorative "tinkering" approach, where blocks are selected from toolboxes and assembled. However, this type of bottom-up progr...

The Children's Congress is an event, developed to meet a demand for strengthening computational thinking and to increase the interest in STEAM subjects. This congress brings teachers, university students and pupils together to work interdisciplinary on real-life problems. During these proceedings, the pupils slip into the role of researchers and sc...

At the Children's Congress pupils can slip into the role of researchers. Their task is to solve a real world problem by using strategies from the STEAM field. In this process the pupils are supported by teachers, students of the teacher education and students of the Honors Program from the STEAM department at the Johannes Kepler University Linz. Th...