Bernadette SpielerZurich Unversity of Teacher Education · Education and Digital Transformation
Bernadette Spieler
Professor
About
57
Publications
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Introduction
Since February 2021, I have been at ZURICH UNIVERSITY OF TEACHER EDUCATION as a professor in Computing Skills in Education at Center for Media Education and Computer Science and Center for Education and Digital Transformation. In 2020, I have been at the University of Hildesheim (Germany) as a visiting professor (W2) for Computer Science Didactics. I have previously worked at Graz University of Technology (Austria), Department of Software Technology. Here, I am part of the Catrobat.org team.
Additional affiliations
February 2021 - present
November 2019 - January 2021
August 2018 - October 2019
Education
February 2015 - May 2018
September 2012 - October 2014
June 2008 - June 2012
Publications
Publications (57)
Typical characteristics of Making are creative and novel solutions and open, problem-based learning environments. Thereby, Making facilitates interdisciplinary connections and cross-cutting competences, for example, technical understanding, creativity, craft skills, or concepts of sustainability and entrepreneur-ship. Traditional crafts can be comb...
Die Informatik-Didaktik ermöglicht es, unter Einsatz vielseitiger Technologien neue Unterrichtsideen zu entwickeln, die dann gemeinsam mit Schüler*innen kreativ oder auch spielerisch umgesetzt werden können. Um Informatik auch im Schulunterricht zu verankern, streben viele deutsche Bundesländer die Integration eines Pflichtfaches Informatik an, so...
Während Themen der Informatik meist geschlechtsneutral sind, prägen Stereotypen sowie soziale und kulturelle Wahrnehmungen das Bild der Informatik. Zum einen können die Lehrenden selbst implizite oder explizite geschlechtsspezifische Vorurteile haben und zum anderen prägen etablierte Trends der männlich zentrierten Repräsentation und Geschlechterun...
Although there is growing awareness of the importance of teaching programming in schools, the roadblocks of stereotypes, biases, and social/cultural prejudices often shape the framework of learning settings in Computer Science (CS). In programming, students usually have different uneven advantages or disadvantages prior knowledge, expectations, and...
Die Unterrepräsentanz von Frauen im Bereich der Informationstechno-logie (IT) wird in der interdisziplinären Forschung seit Jahrzehnten disku-tiert. Ein Geschlechtergefälle tritt zwar in mehreren MINT-Disziplinen (Mathematik, Informatik, Naturwissenschaften und Technik) auf, ist aber besonders deutlich in der Disziplin der Informatik sichtbar. Folg...
In Computer Science, and particularly in the context of Maker Education, students should try out new technologies (including coding) or craft techniques without fear of failure and in a playful way. Studies have shown that learning programming through tinkering appeals to boys more than girls. Taking that into consideration, tools and tasks can mak...
Game design activities support young people to acquire Computational Thinking (CT) skills in an entertaining way. While the importance of CT is increasing, we still lack empirical data on how cognitive functions support learning to program. The current study is a step towards bridging this gap. We tested 48 participants aged 10-15 during summer cou...
Much attention in learning about programming has focused on designing video games and supporting pupils to build playable artefacts. Gender differences in playing behaviour and game preferences raise concerns about possible gender inequalities when games are used as a motivation to explore coding. The Code'n'Stitch project (2018-2020) funded by the...
Although female students engage in coding courses, only a small percentage of them plan to pursue computer science (CS) as a major when choosing a career path. Gender differences in interests, sense-of belonging, self-efficacy, and engagement in CS are already present at an early age. This article presents an overview of gender stereotypes in CS an...
Mädchen und Frauen sind Vorreiter in der Technologieanwendung, wie zum Beispiel in Bezug auf Smartphones oder Apps. Sie sind aber nur unwesentlich an der Technologieentwicklung beteiligt. Die Jobs der Zukunft sind weitreichend digital und vernetzt und die Nachfrage nach Arbeitskräften mit "Computational Thinking Skills" steigt stetig. Mit einem Fok...
Game development-based learning and creative coding activities are seen as an opportunity for young people to acquire programming skills and overall, Computational Thinking (CT) skills in an entertaining way. The goal of such activities is to create playable gaming artefacts. While learning to code is becoming more and more important, young game de...
Knowledge in Computer Science (CS) is essential, and companies have increased their demands for CS professionals. Despite this, many jobs remain vacant. Furthermore, computational thinking (CT) skills are required in all contexts of problem solving. A further serious problem arises from the gender disparity in technology related fields. Even if tech...
Research points at various factors for the low and even decreasing proportion of women in the IT sector in developed countries, e.g., psychological causes, social factors, or structural conditions. These possible explanations all have one thing in common: they recognize adolescence as the essential confidence-building phase in girls. Girls aged 12...
Research points at various factors for the low and even decreasing proportion of women in the IT sector in developed countries, e.g., psychological causes, social factors, or structural conditions. These possible explanations all have one thing in common: they recognize adolescence as the essential confidence-building phase in girls. Girls aged 12...
Novices struggle to represent problems mentally; this process takes up much of their cognitive resources. By improving novices' mental representation of problems, worked examples improve both problem-solving skills and transfer performance. Programming requires both skills. In programming, it is not sufficient to understand how a Stackoverflow exam...
Educational games are commonly used to motivate students and provide enhanced learning opportunities. Apps and mobile games play an increasingly important role in education and smartphones are part of the daily lives of most female teenagers: Half of mobile gamers are women and 64% of women prefer smartphones to other platforms. However, gender dif...
Educational games are commonly used to motivate students and provide enhanced learning opportunities. Apps and mobile games play an increasingly important role in education and smartphones are part of the daily lives of most female teenagers: Half of mobile gamers are women and 64% of women prefer smartphones to other platforms. However, gender dif...
Knowledge in Computer Science (CS) is essential, and companies have increased their demands for CS professionals. Despite this, many jobs remain unfilled. Furthermore, employees with computational thinking (CT) skills are required, even if they are not actual technicians. Moreover, the gender disparity in technology related fields is a serious prob...
The constructivist approach is interested in creating knowledge through active engagement and encourages students to build their knowledge from their experiences in the world. Learning through digital game making is a constructivist approach that allows students to learn by developing their own games, enhancing problem-solving skills and fostering...
Although programming is often seen as a key element of constructionist approaches, the research on learning to program through a constructionist strategy is somewhat limited, mostly focusing on how to bring the abstract and formal nature of programming languages into “concrete”, possibly tangible objects, graspable even by children with limited abs...
Recent studies from all over the world show that more boys than girls play video games. The numbers are different for mobile gaming apps, where 65% of women are identified as gamers. Adapting game design activities for academic purposes is a widely applied approach at schools or off-school initiatives is seen as a promising opportunity for all teen...
The number of women in IT-related disciplines is far below the number of men, especially in developed countries. Middle-school girls appear to be engaged in coding courses, but when they choose academic majors relevant to their future careers, only few pursue computer science as a major. In order to show students a new way of learning and to engage...
The number of women in IT-related disciplines is far below the number of men, especially in developed countries. Middle-school girls appear to be engaged in coding courses, but when they choose academic majors relevant to their future careers, only few pursue computer science as a major. In order to show students a new way of learning and to engage...
Although teenage girls engage in coding courses, only a small percentage of them plan to pursue Computer Science (CS) as a major when choosing a career path. Gender differences in interests, sense-of belonging, self-efficacy, and engagement in CS are already present at that age. This article presents an overview of gender stereotypes by summarizing...
Learning theories emphasize the importance of intrinsic and extrinsic motivators in curricula, and games are a promising way to provide both while constructing the game and presenting or sharing it in public or with a community. New technologies and the emerging mobile gaming sector further the case that learning should be promoted everywhere and a...
Learning theories emphasize the importance of intrinsic and extrinsic motivators in curricula, and games are a promising way to provide both while constructing the game and presenting or sharing it in public or with a community. New technologies and the emerging mobile gaming sector further the case that learning should be promoted everywhere and a...
The number of women in technical fields is far below the average number of males, especially in developed countries. Gender differences in STEM are already present in secondary schools in students aged between 12 to 15 years. It is during this intermediate female adolescence that girls begin to make critical career choices, which therefore makes th...
Most of the 700 million teenagers everywhere in the world already have their own smartphones, but comparatively few of them have access to PCs, laptops, OLPCs, Chromebooks, or tablets. The free open source non-profit project Catrobat allows users to create and publish their own apps using only their smartphones. Initiated in 2010, with first public...
The number of women in technical fields is far below the average number of males, especially in developed countries and across academic levels. Gender differences in STEM are already present in students aged 12 to 15 years. To address this gender bias at an early stage, a goal of the European project No One Left Behind included integrating the app...
The next generation of jobs will be characterized by an increased demand for people with computational and problem solving skills. In Austria, computer science topics are underrepresented in school curricula hence teaching time for these topics is limited. From primary through secondary school, only a few opportunities exist for young students to e...
The widespread use of mobile phones is changing how learning takes place in many disciplines and contexts. As a scenario in a constructionist learning environment, students are given powerful tools to create games using their own ideas. In the "No One Left Behind" (NOLB) project we will study through experimental cycles whether the use of mobile ga...
The number of women in technical fields is far below the average number of males, especially in developed countries. Gender differences in STEM are already present in secondary schools in students aged between 12 to 15 years. Adolescence is a critical time for identity formation, and self-attributes are a source for internal conflicts, especially f...
Game jams are a way to create games under fast-paced conditions and certain constraints. The increase in game jam events all over the world, their engaging and creative nature, with the aim of sharing results among players can be seen in the high participation rate of such events (2013: 16,705 participants from 319 jam sites in 63 countries produce...
Learning theories emphasize the importance of intrinsic and extrinsic motivators in curricula, and games are a promising way to provide both while constructing the game and presenting or sharing it in public or with a community. New technologies and the emerging mobile gaming sector further the case that learning should be promoted everywhere and a...
This paper will present a cross-European experience of game jams as part of a Horizon 2020 funded project: No-one Left Behind (NOLB). The NOLB project was created to unlock inclusive gaming creation and experiences in formal learning situations from primary to secondary level, particularly for children at risk of social exclusion. The project has e...
Game creation challenges in schools potentially provide engaging, goal-oriented, and interactive experiences in classes; thereby supporting the transfer of knowledge for learning in a fun and pedagogic manner. A key element of the ongoing European project No One Left Behind (NOLB) is to integrate a game-making teaching framework (GMTF) into the edu...
By using a programmable embroidery machine for handicraft lessons we will perform 96 coding and stitching courses at three different schools in Austria (~200 students) together with our partners bits4kids (coding club) and Apflbutzn (fair fashion shop). We will: • examine on how to attract, motivate and engage girls and support them in coding activ...
Game creation challenges in schools potentially provide engaging, goal-oriented, and interactive experiences in classes; thereby supporting the transfer of knowledge for learning in a fun and pedagogic manner. A key element of the ongoing European project No One Left Behind (NOLB) is to integrate a game-making teaching framework (GMTF) into the edu...
Game creation challenges in schools potentially provide engaging, goal-oriented, and interactive experiences in classes; thereby supporting the transfer of knowledge for learning in a fun and pedagogic manner. A key ele-ment of the ongoing European project No One Left Behind (NOLB) is to integrate a game-making teaching framework (GMTF) into the ed...
This paper discusses the implementation of Google's Material Design guidelines, internationalization, and localization for mobile applications in the case of Pocket Paint, an Android painting application. The intended goal of this redesign is to broaden the user base by improving overall usability and supporting right-to-left written languages such...
Game jams are a way to create games under fast-paced conditions and certain constraints. The increase in game jam events all over the world, their engaging and creative nature, with the aim of sharing results among players can be seen in the high participation rate of such events (2013: 16,705 participants from 319 jam sites in 63 countries produce...
Game jams are a way to create games under fast-paced conditions and certain constraints (Eberhardt, 2016; Deen, et al., 2014). The increase in game jam events all over the world, their engaging and creative nature, with the aim of sharing results among players can be seen in the high participation rate of such events (2013: 16,705 participants from...
The widespread use of mobile phones is changing how learning takes place in many disciplines and contexts. As a scenario in a constructionist learning environment, students are given powerful tools to create games using their own ideas. In the “No One Left Behind” (NOLB) project we will study whether the use of mobile game design has an impact on l...
The constructionist approach is more interested in constructing personal experience than about acquiring information. It states that learning is most effective when building knowledge through active engagement. Experiential and discovery learning by challenges inspire creativity, and projects allow independent thinking and new ways of learning info...
The education sector in Europe is facing one of the toughest challenges on how to attract, motivate and engage students with content from an academic curriculum and at the same time supporting the formal learning process and providing a learning experience that matches the dynamics of the 21st century. More than ever, Albert Einstein’s words are a...
Findings in physiotherapy have standardized approaches in treatment, but there is also a significant margin of differences in how to implement these standards. Clinical decisions require experience and continuous learning processes to consolidate personal values and opinions and studies suggest that lecturers can influence students positively. Rece...
Projects
Projects (4)
As part of the “Making at School” project, the Zurich University of Teacher Education, together with the University of Zurich and the CreativeLab Zurich, is committed to creating interdisciplinary modules for Making, e.g., in biology, computer science, or handicraft. The main goal is to help teachers to develop a Maker mindset by providing ideas for designing their own projects.
https://explore-making.ch
To make Pocket Code more interesting and attractive for young people between 13 and 18 years, we have extended the app with the possibility to program embroidery machines. In this way, self-created patterns and designs can be embroidered on T-shirts, trousers or even bags.
The ‘No One Left Behind” project, co-funded by the EU Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, will allow children to use a non-leisure gaming ‘tool-kit’ to develop digital games on mobile devices – with the aim of enhancing their abilities across all academic subjects, as well as their logical reasoning, creativity and social skills.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 645215
