Bernadette Spieler

Zurich Unversity of Teacher Education · Education and Digital Transformation

Digitization and production innovations in combination with the ongoing climate change pose many challenges for our private but also the professional life. Specifically, education systems and the labor market have to address new demands while also facing new challenges, such as defining these skills and implementing teaching methods to acquire them...

Integrating video games into the classroom is a promising way to enhance learning experiences, as the market of serious games is expanding. European schools are investing in digital equipment, and the use of educational video games is technologically viable. Nonetheless, actual experiences of video games in class are still rare. A key gap to be exp...

Integrating video games into the classroom is a promising way to enhance learning experiences, as the market of serious games is expanding. European schools are investing in digital equipment, and the use of educational video games is technologically viable. Nonetheless, actual experiences of video games in class are still rare. A key gap to be exp...

This paper explores the transformative potential of Making in fostering self-guided, hands-on learning among students in grades 5 to 9. It presents the two-year initiative, "Making at School", wherein Zurich University of Teacher Education (PHZH) created and tested different Maker Education scenarios. A cohort of 13 educators received professional...

Computational Thinking. Entrepreneurship. Green Skills. Dies sind zweifellos drei Kernkompetenzbereiche des 21. Jahrhunderts, die isoliert betrachtet bereits eine enorme Bedeutung haben. In Kombination aber entfalten sie das volle Potenzial, um die Herausforderungen unserer modernen Welt zu meistern und innovative, nachhaltige Lösungen zu entwickel...

Research suggests that girls’ initial interest in computer science tends to decline during their teenage years, a trend that is not observed among boys. This paper addresses this gender gap and proposes integrating programming into handicraft lessons to provide a creative activity for all students. The project was conducted in three Austrian school...

Making bietet Schüler:innen die Möglichkeit, praktische Fähigkeiten in einem selbstgesteuerten Lernumfeld zu entwickeln. Für Lehrpersonen kann die Maker-Education ein innovativer Ansatz sein, um das Interesse am Lernen durch kreatives Design oder digitale Projekte zu wecken. Im Rahmen des zweijährigen DIZH-Projekts «Making im Unterricht» entwickelt...

BioTinkering als Making-Aktivität in der Biologie begeistert Schüler:innen für die Pflanzenwelt und kann den naturwissenschaftlichen Unterricht durch überfachliche, digitale, prozessbasierte und produktorientierte Projektarbeiten bereichern. Dieser Artikel stellt Making-Aktivitäten im Themenbereich Pflanzenbiologie vor und diskutiert deren Kompeten...

Die Digitalisierung und der damit verbundene Wandel der Arbeitswelt erfordern vielfältige Kompetenzen: vom digitalen Gestalten über die Aneignung einer flexiblen und informatischen Denkweise bis hin zu einer Affinität zu Werkzeugen und Medien. Als (zukünftige) Lehrpersonen bedeutet dies, Technologien auf verschiedenen Ebenen, beispielsweise in der...

Games are omnipresent for children and young people. In primary and secondary schools in Switzerland, however, games still eke out a niche existence. Topics such as Game Design, Serious Games, or the Game Culture in general offer enormous potential for teaching, and there are many ways for pupils to experience the world of games together. However,...

Games are omnipresent for children and young people. In primary and secondary schools in Switzerland, however, games still eke out a niche existence. Topics such as Game Design, Serious Games, or the Game Culture in general offer enormous potential for teaching, and there are many ways for pupils to experience the world of games together. However,...

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...

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...

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...

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...