International Journal of Computer Science Education in Schools

Teaching Computer Science: Analyzing the Key Factors Affecting Educators' Professional Motivation

Özcan TOY — 2026-02-19

Computer science education is crucial and demands pedagogical and technological challenges. Computer science educators must enjoy computing and pedagogy. This study examined computer science educators' professional motivation. To assess the factors that affect computer science faculty professional motivation, a valid and accurate scale has been established. Quantitative correlational relational survey model is used in the study. The scale was developed using data from 798 computer science academics in Turkey's provinces. Data was collected in three phases. The Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was conducted with 246 teachers, the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) with 366 teachers, and the final application with 186 teachers. The data analysis program was SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 24.0. According to the findings, CFA was used to investigate a structure with 18 elements and two factors. The findings showed that instructors' motivation perspectives did not differ by gender, university, years in the profession, or city of assignment. However, educational differences were seen in employment.

Rubric for the qualitative assessment of student-designed Snap! projects

Nicole Marmé — 2026-02-19

An objective evaluation and assessment of individual student-designed projects are challenging. Appropriate tools are currently lagging and have to be developed. Block-based programming languages, such as Snap!, are often used for teaching programming basics and the subsequent development of student-designed programming projects. The current research qualitatively developed a rating rubric for Snap! projects to investigate how novices’ programming skills can be evaluated and assessed in a criterion-guided manner. For this purpose, an evaluation was conducted on a baseline dataset of 36 student projects created over three school years after a programming course for novices. Based on this database an assessment rubric was designed. A team of experts reviewed and evaluated the assessment rubric. Following expert evaluation, the rubric was improved and expanded. Finally, a test data set consisting of ten other Snap! projects of varying complexity was presented to prospective teachers for comparative evaluation with and without the resulting rubric. The results show that the rating rubric significantly improves the comparability of assessments. In addition, a clear differentiation of the projects by level is achieved for the test data set. Furthermore, the assessment rubric enables a more precise achieved result evaluation in particular rubric categories.

Towards a consensus on program elements of specialized computer science / information technology (CS/IT) programs in high schools

Jon Becker — 2026-02-19

In our increasingly technological and advanced times, demand for K-12 education in computer science and information technology (CS/IT) is growing. Current data offer insight into student access to computer science education and course-taking. In addition to the expansion of individual course offerings, there is also a growing number of specialized CS/IT programs in high schools. However, there has been no systematic attempt to document the landscape of those programs. This study is part of a larger landscape study of secondary CS/IT programs in Virginia and uses a consensus-based approach to identify the common elements that expert and practitioner panelists believe should be included in such a program. The results reveal strong consensus on a wide range of program goals, activities, and curricular elements, suggesting that there are many opportunities to create purposeful and coherent CS/IT programs in high schools.