Bringing computational thinking to teachers' training: a workshop review

Abstract

In recent years, several visual programming languages and tools are emerging, which allow young students to easily program applications. Particularly, the block-based language used by Scratch has been the standard in most school initiatives to introduce Computational thinking (CT) in courses unrelated to computing. However, CT competences are not speci􀀀ically included in the curricula of many Higher Education degrees that future teachers of Primary and Secondary Education have to complete. This paper describes a workshop for teachers’ training on CT. It is based on the block-based common language of Scratch, but focused on enhancing teachers’ skills to develop mobile applications with a tool based on the MIT’s AppInventor. This workshop provided some insights on the capabilities of future teachers in the use of programming tools