Software Design Course for Leading CS In-Service Teachers

  • Authors:

  • Ofra Brandes;Tamar Vilner;Ela Zur

  • Affiliations:

  • Science Teaching Center, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel 91-904;Computer Science Department, The Open University of Israel, Raanana, Israel 43107;Computer Science Department, The Open University of Israel, Raanana, Israel 43107

  • Venue:
  • ISSEP '10 Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Informatics in Secondary Schools - Evolution and Perspectives: Teaching Fundamentals Concepts of Informatics
  • Year:
  • 2009

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Abstract

The Computer Science (CS) discipline is continually developing. Consequently there are frequent changes in curricula and their implementations. The CS teachers, who usually work in schools alone or in small teams, are seriously challenged by the changes, since all their teaching materials and pedagogical methods have to be revised. In Israel, the secondary school CS program has recently shifted from the procedural to the OOP paradigm. This paper discusses an approach taken to address the ensuing difficulties, namely a course for leading teachers. The paper describes the rationale of leading teachers, and a course conducted for them in an advanced unit in the CS program. The main purpose of the course was to develop a professional leadership of CS teachers who can support and contribute to their peers. The paper describes the expectations of the course; its progress; and the conclusions about its success obtained by analyzing data collected during the course.