High School Computer Science Teacher Preparation Programs - Guide to Teaching Computer Science: An Activity-Based Approach - page 268

15.2.4.2 Stage 2: Three-Day Seminar
The proposed seminar consists of twelve 1.5-h sessions. It is suggested to schedule
it for three consecutive days (e.g., 1st day—4 sessions; 2nd day—5 sessions; 3rd
day—3 sessions). Other scheduling options are also possible of course.
The seminar contents are organized in four layers:
Layer 1—Introduction This layer addresses the rationale and structure of computer
science teacher preparation programs.
Layer 2—The Methods of Teaching Computer Science (MTCS) Course The MTCS
course is one of the central components of any computer science teacher preparation
program. As has been explained several times in this Guide, in the MTCS course,
the prospective computer science teachers become familiar with the pedagogical
context knowledge (PCK; Shulman 1986 ) of computer science teaching.
Layer 3—High School Practicum The practicum is also a vital component of any
computer science teacher preparation program (see Chap. 13). During the practi-
cum, prospective computer science teachers get their first experience in high school
teaching.
Layer 4—Computer Science Education (CSE) Research This layer includes an
overview of the research in computer science education, discussions of specific
computer science education research works, familiarity with common computer sci-
ence education research methods, and a preliminary experience in computer science
education research.
Table 15.1 presents the proposed topic of each session, as well as the layers to
which it belongs. As can be seen, the layers are intertwined throughout the seminar
in order to highlight their interrelations. For additional details about the contents of
each session, see Hazzan et al. ( 2010 ).
15.2.4.3 Stage 3: Action
The last session of the seminar (Session #12) is dedicated to the launching of the
Action stage which begins right after the seminar ends. The purpose of this stage
is to guide the participants of the ECSTPP workshop in the actual establishment of
computer science teacher preparation programs in their respective universities.
For this purpose, the participants of the ECSTPP workshop are offered the fol-
lowing two activities:
• Conduct two kinds of research:
• Mini-research in high school computer science classes in order to improve the
understanding of the setting of high school computer science teaching.
• Action research (Lewin 1948 ) about their own process of constructing a com-
puter science teacher preparation program.
• Participate in an online forum with other ECSTPP workshop participants to
maintain the spirit of the learning community created during the seminar itself.