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Fig. 2.1
Wearing four hats in the construction process of the prospective computer science teach-
ers' professional perception
a constructivist perspective, in such situations, active learning is preferred over
lecture-based teaching.
•
Reflection
: The prospective computer science teachers can improve the construc-
tion of their professional perception also by incorporating reflective processes
into the construction process (Ragonis and Hazzan
2010
). That is, by becoming
reflective practitioners (Schn
1983
,
1987
), their comprehension of the profes-
sion of computer science education may be improved. Reflective practitioners
are professionals who continuously improve their professional skills based on
their on-going reflection with respect to their professional performance. Active
learning is compatible with the reflective practice perspective since it provides
learners with an opportunity to reflect on the activities they perform as part of
their active learning.
•
Teaching methods
: Active learning enables the illustration of different teaching
methods. Consequently, it enables to expose the prospective computer science
teachers to different teaching methods and class arrangements. Based on the con-
structivist approach, the prospective computer science teachers' experience of
different teaching methods in an active learning fashion, promotes their under-
standing of the methods' advantages and disadvantages.
•
Bridging gaps
: Active learning can bridge gaps in the teaching experience and
computer science background that exist among the students participating in the
MTCS course. Some of them may have stronger backgrounds in computer sci-
ence; others may have more teaching experience. Since active learning enables
each student to continue with the construction of his or her professional percep-
tion from his or her current professional stage, active learning can help instruc-
tors of MTCS courses overcome these variations that exist among the students.
•
High-order thinking tasks
: Last, but not least, active learning enables to offer the
prospective computer science teachers tasks that enhance higher-order thinking,
such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation tasks.
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