• Journal of Creative Information Culture
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.243-255
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of software education based on physical computing on the CT ability of elementary school students. To this end, previous studies related to physical computing software education and software education in the 2015 revised curriculum were analyzed. In addition, COBL was selected among many physical computing tools on the market in consideration of the level and characteristics of learners in the school to conduct the study, and 'Professor Lee Jae-ho's AI Maker Coding with COBL' was used as the textbook. This study was conducted for 10 sessions on 135 students in 6 classes in 6th grade of H Elementary School located in Pyeongtaek, Gyeong gi-do. The results of this study are as follows. First, it was confirmed that physical computing software education linked to real life was effective in improving the CT ability of elementary school students. Second, the change in competency of CT ability by sector improved evenly from 8 to 30 points in the pre-score and post-score of computing thinking ability. Third, in this study, it was confirmed that 87% of students were very positive as a result of a survey of satisfaction with classes after real-life physical computing software education. We hope that follow-up studies will help select various regions across cities and rural areas, and prove that real-life physical computing software education for various learner members, including large and small schools, will help elementary school students improve their CT ability.

• Journal of Appropriate Technology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.151-162
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• 2020

Education is one of the priority sectors specified in Tanzania, and it has committed to provide 11 years of compulsory free basic education for all from pre-primary to lower secondary level. Despite the Government's efforts to provide free basic education to all children, there are 2.0 million (23.2 per cent) out of 8.5 million children at the primary school age of 7-13, who are out of school in Tanzania. The ICT class should be offered as a regular class in all secondary schools in Tanzania, recommended by the ministry of education. However, many schools are struggling to implement this mandate. Most of schools offer the ICT class with theory without any real hardware. Some schools were given with computers but they were not maintained for operation. There is a huge task to make ICT education universal. Main issues include: remoteness (off-grid area), lack of ICT teachers, lack of resources such as hardware, infrastructure, and lack of practical lessons or projects to be used at schools. An innovative blended ICT/STEM education program is being conducted not only for Tanzanian public and private/international schools, but also for out-of-school adolescents through institutions, NGO centers, home visits and at the E3 Empower academy center. For effective STEM education to take place and remain sustainable, more practical curriculum, and close-up teacher support need to be accompanied concurrently. Practical, project-based simple coding lessons have been developed and employed that students experience true learning. The effectiveness of the curriculum has been demonstrated in various project centers, and it showed that students are showing new interests in exploring new discovery, even though this was a totally new area for them. It has been designed for an easy replication, thus students who learned can repeat the lessons themselves to other students. The ultimate purpose of this project is to have IT education offered as universally as possible throughout the whole Tanzania. Quality education for all children is a key for better future for all. Previously it was hoped that education with discipline will improve the active learning. But now more than ever, we believe that children have the ability to learn on their own with given proper STEM education tools, guidelines and environment. This gives promising hope to all of us, including those in the developing countries.