This special issue calls for a greater awareness of computing as a critical area of study for those interested in educational studies. Its purpose is to open up a wider dialogue about computing and education than has previously existed in the field. The questions raised provide the basis for a lively discussion and analysis of the role of educational studies in interpreting the role of computing in our culture and educational system. This issue also provides a model for exploring other topics of similar significance and importance to the field in future issues of the journal.

This book presents a collection of meta-studies, reviews, and scientometric analyses that together reveal a fresh picture about the past, present, and future of computing education research (CER) as a field of science. The book begins with three chapters that discuss and summarise meta-research about the foundations of CER, its disciplinary identity, and use of research methodologies and theories. Based on this, the book proceeds with several scientometric analyses, which explore authors and their collaboration networks, dissemination practices, international collaboration, and shifts in research focus over the years. Analyses of dissemination are deepened in two chapters that focus on some of the most influential publication venues of CER. The book also contains a series of country-, or region-level analyses, including chapters that focus on the evolution of CER in the Baltic Region, Finland, Australasia, Israel, and in the UK & Ireland. Two chapters present case studies of influential CER initiatives in Sweden and Namibia. This book also includes chapters that focus on CER conducted at school level, and cover crucially important issues such as technology ethics, algorithmic bias, and their implications for CER.In all, this book contributes to building an understanding of the past, present and future of CER. This book also contributes new practical guidelines, highlights topical areas of research, shows who to connect with, where to publish, and gives ideas of innovative research niches. The book takes a unique methodological approach by presenting a combination of meta-studies, scientometric analyses of publication metadata, and large-scale studies about the evolution of CER in different geographical regions. This book is intended for educational practitioners, researchers, students, and anyone interested in CER. This book was written in collaboration with some of the leading experts of the field.

As technology continues to develop and prove its importance in modern society, certain professions are acclimating. Aspects such as computer science and computational thinking are becoming essential areas of study. Implementing these subject areas into teaching practices is necessary for younger generations to adapt to the developing world. There is a critical need to examine the pedagogical implications of these technological skills and implement them into the global curriculum. The Handbook of Research on Integrating Computer Science and Computational Thinking in K-12 Education is a collection of innovative research on the methods and applications of computer science curriculum development within primary and secondary education. While highlighting topics including pedagogical implications, comprehensive techniques, and teacher preparation models, this book is ideally designed for teachers, IT consultants, curriculum developers, instructional designers, educational software developers, higher education faculty, administrators, policymakers, researchers, and graduate students.

The University of Victoria Pacific Centre for Scientific and Technological Literacy is one of five Centres for Research into Youth, Science Teaching and Learning (CRYSTAL) funded for 5 years (2005–2010) by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Canada (NSERC). Pacific CRYSTAL intended to promote scientific, mathematical, and technological literacy for responsible citizenship through research partnerships with university and educational communities. Pacific CRYSTAL’s functional structure consisted of 3 research and development nodes connected to a leadership and administrative node, which was charged with facilitating the activities of 19 projects and 42 principal investigators, partners, and research associates. Node 1, an incubation centre, involved extracurricular authentic science, mathematics, and technology experiences; Node 2, a classroom testing environment, field-tested instructional ideas and strategies to develop evidence-based practices; and Node 3, lighthouse schools, involved systemic change and leadership opportunities that adapted, demonstrated, and disseminated tested ideas, resources, and strategies to a much broader education community and attempted to influence public policy. This book provides descriptions of the target goals, research and development projects, and lessons learned.

Compilation of the research produced by the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME) since its creation in 1976. The first three sections summarize cognitively-oriented research on learning and teaching specific content areas, transversal areas, and based on technology-rich environments. The fourth section is devoted to the research on social, affective, cultural and cognitive aspects of mathematics education. The fifth section includes two chapters summarizing the PME research on teacher training and professional life of mathematics teachers.

The NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Mathematics Education and Technology was held in Villard-de-Lans, France, between May 6 and 11, 1993. Organised on the initiative of the BaCoMET (Basic Components of Mathematics Education for Teachers) group (Christiansen, Howson and Otte 1986; Bishop, Mellin-Olsen and van Dormolen 1991), the workshop formed part of a larger NATO programme on Advanced Educational Technology. Some workshop members had already participated in earlier events in this series and were able to contribute insights from them: similarly some members were to take part in later events. The problematic for the workshop drew attention to important speculative developments in the applications of advanced information technology in mathematics education over the last decade, notably intelligent tutoring, geometric construction, symbolic algebra and statistical analysis. Over the same period, more elementary forms of information technology had started to have a significant influence on teaching approaches and curriculum content: notably arithmetic and graphic calculators; standard computer tools, such as spreadsheets and databases; and computer-assisted learning packages and computer microworlds specially designed for educational purposes.

This book presents some of the results from the second stage of lEA's study of Computers in Education (CompEd). lEA, the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, conducts international comparative studies focussing on educational achievement, practices, and policies in various countries and education systems around the world. It has a Secretariat located in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. lEA studies have reported on a wide range of topics, each contributing to a deeper understanding of educational processes. The CompEd study is a project that sheds light on the way computers have been introduced in education and on how they are being used across the world today. The study proceeded in two stages with data collected for stage 1 in 1989 and for stage 2 in 1992. Results from both stages have been published in a variety of publications. This book reports about a special part of the study. Student achievement and school processes come into being in the context of the structure and the policies of national (or regional) education systems. The variety found in the CompEd results led us to ask how much might be explained by differences in these national or regional contexts. That is the reason the CompEd study took the initiative to invite the countries participating in the study, as well as some other countries that have had interesting developments in the domain of educational computers, to write a chapter describing their policies and practices regarding computers in education.

Now more than ever, as a worldwide STEM community, we need to know what pre-collegiate teachers and students explore, learn, and implement in relation to computer science and engineering education. As computer science and engineering education are not always “stand-alone” courses in pre-collegiate schools, how are pre-collegiate teachers and students learning about these topics? How can these subjects be integrated? Explore six articles in this book that directly relate to the currently hot topics of computer science and engineering education as they tie into pre-collegiate science, technology, and mathematics realms. There is a systematic review article to set the stage of the problem. Following this overview are two teacher-focused articles on professional development in computer science and entrepreneurship venture training. The final three articles focus on varying levels of student work including pre-collegiate secondary students’ exploration of engineering design technology, future science teachers’ (collegiate students) perceptions of engineering, and pre-collegiate future engineers’ exploration of environmental radioactivity. All six articles speak to computer science and engineering education in pre-collegiate forums, but blend into the collegiate world for a look at what all audiences can bring to the conversation about these topics.

This book confronts the issue of how young people can find a way into the world of algebra. It represents multiple perspectives which include an analysis of situations in which algebra is an efficient problem-solving tool, the use of computer-based technologies, and a consideration of the historical evolution of algebra. The book emphasizes the situated nature of algebraic activity as opposed to being concerned with identifying students' conceptions in isolation from problem-solving activity.

Deryn Watson and David Tinsley The topic of the conference, integrating infonnation technology into education, is both broad and multi-facetted. In order to help focus the papers and discussion we identified 7 themes: • Current developments in society and education influencing integration; • Teachers, their roles and concerns; • Learners, their expectations of and behaviour in an integrated environment; • Developments and concerns in the curriculum; • Successes and failures in existing practice; • Organisation and management of integrated environments; • Identification of social and political influences. Each author was invited to focus on one theme, and these remained strands throughout as can be seen from the short papers and focus group reports. The first and most significant concern therefore was to be clear about our notions of integration; what do we mean and how is this relevant? Our keynote paper from Cornu clearly marked out this debate by examining the notion of integration and alerting us to the fact that as long as the use of IT is still added to the curriculum, then integration has not yet begun.