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Prior studies in the Computer Science education literature have illustrated that novices make many mistakes in composing SQL queries. Query formulation proves to be difficult for students. Only recently, some headway was made towards understanding why SQL leads to so many mistakes, by uncovering student misconceptions. In this article, we shed new light on SQL misconceptions by analyzing the hypotheses of SQL experts on the causes of student errors. By examining the experts' perceptions, we draw on their understanding of students' misconceptions and on their experiences with studying and teaching SQL. For our analysis, we chose the Policy Delphi, a questionnaire instrument specifically designed for gathering opinions and evidence. Through a two-round process, our nineteen participants proposed and voted on underlying causes for SQL errors which resulted in a set of hypotheses per error. Our main contribution to this article is this new set of possible misconceptions. With them, we can design more complete educational approaches to address misconceptions underlying SQL errors made by students, leading to more effective SQL education.

Evidence in the literature indicates that doctoral candidates may experience increased levels of stress and worry about successfully completing their doctorate degrees. As a result, a significant number of doctoral candidates drop out. In our study with 424 doctoral students in computer science (113 women, 311 men), we ask about the frequency of dropout thoughts as an indicator of possible premature termination. By means of machine learning algorithms, we extract variables associated with higher or lower likelihood of dropout thoughts. In particular, "satisfaction with advisor's support," "experiencing a crisis," "professional self-efficacy," "choice of advisor," and "perceived meaningfulness of additional work tasks" proved to be of central importance. Based on these results, we suggest taking steps to improve professional and social support for doctoral students. Recommendations include implementing more intensive supervision in the early stages of the doctorate, improve the match between doctoral candidates' expectations and the requirements of the respective institute, monitor progress during the doctorate (e.g., with the help of an advisor agreement), and increase the qualifications of advisors to include leadership and communication skills.

This study investigated the role of virtual reality (VR) in computer science (CS) education over the last 10 years by conducting a bibliometric and content analysis of articles related to the use of VR in CS education. A total of 971 articles published in peer-reviewed journals and conferences were collected from Web of Science and Scopus databases to conduct the bibliometric analysis. Furthermore, content analysis was conducted on 39 articles that met the inclusion criteria. This study demonstrates that VR research for CS education was faring well around 2011 but witnessed low production output between the years 2013 and 2016. However, scholars have increased their contribution in this field recently, starting from the year 2017. This study also revealed prolific scholars contributing to the field. It provides insightful information regarding research hotspots in VR that have emerged recently, which can be further explored to enhance CS education. In addition, the quantitative method remains the most preferred research method, while the questionnaire was the most used data collection technique. Moreover, descriptive analysis was primarily used in studies on VR in CS education. The study concludes that even though scholars are leveraging VR to advance CS education, more effort needs to be made by stakeholders across countries and institutions. In addition, a more rigorous methodological approach needs to be employed in future studies to provide more evidence-based research output. Our future study would investigate the pedagogy, content, and context of studies on VR in CS education.

In this paper, we present our experience with redesigning an introductory computer science course for (electrical) engineers with blended learning concepts. It is a large mandatory course with eight credit points over the course of two semesters, where first year electrical engineers learn how to program with Arduino, C and Python. Additionally, they need to cover basic computer science concepts such as binary numbers, Boolean algebra, encodings, finite state machines and object-oriented programming. We designed the course to cover the fields that are most relevant to our students' future careers. With the new format, students declare they are much more engaged with the course, they drop the course less often and they actually achieve better exam results. We completely re-structured the course, introduced inverted classroom elements and hackathons and we continuously optimized and adapted the course. The main focus is on hands-on-experience and teamwork, which we mostly achieve by the use of hackathons. In this paper, we described the contents and teaching concepts of the course and we discussed the achieved results.

Background and Context: Collaborative and cooperative learning is important to prepare students for their future work and to increase their learning performance in university courses. Several studies have shown promising results regarding team activities, such as pair programming. However, there is little information on how teamwork is currently included in university courses for computer science students and the specific obstacles to its successful inclusion. Objective: To get an overview of the implementation of teamwork in computer science courses, we interviewed students and lecturers. We examined which cooperative and collaborative learning methods are implemented, which goals are pursued, and how the teamwork is guided and assessed. Method: Semi-structured interviews with 25 lecturers and students were conducted in three universities in Germany. We analyzed the students' data separately from the teachers' data, in a content analysis, and discuss both views in the end. Findings: Courses lack instructional design and guidance by the lecturer, and students wish to get more instructions and explanations in using collaborative tools. Implications: To successfully include teamwork in computer science courses the following aspects are crucial--thorough instructional design of collaborative and cooperative learning activities based on learning objectives, learner characteristics, contextual factors, and alignment of assessment.

Many women do not work in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations even though they have degrees in these subjects. To shed light on this problem, we use information from the German Graduate Panel and show a significant gender gap among STEM graduates working in degree-related occupations after graduation. Therefore, we focus on university graduates' transition into the labour market and include male and female non-STEM and STEM graduates. We find that male STEM graduates are more likely to work in a degree-related field than other men. A gender gap in degree-related work in STEM occupations shows that this is not the case for women. Separating STEM into engineering and computer science (EngComp) and mathematics and natural sciences (MatNat) shows that EngComp graduates are the main driver of the STEM effects. The estimations remain robust to a comprehensive set of individual background information. Moreover, bearing children before graduation or at the beginning of one's professional career does not explain the lower entry behaviour of female EngComp graduates. Possible channels for why women with an EngComp degree are not as likely as men to start their professional life in an EngComp occupation are discussed.

Background and Context: During online learning, it is essential to provide instructional guidance to support learning. However, guidance can be given in different forms and quantities. Thus, one important challenge is to provide the right amount and type of instructional guidance. Objective: The aim of the study is to investigate types of guidance which are effective for students with heterogenous programming knowledge and skills solving programming tasks in a remote laboratory. Method: We carried out two studies with a single factor pre-post-design with guidance (basic/enhanced) as a between-subjects factor. Findings: In study 1, we implemented enhanced guidance in the form of prompts in the introduction to the tasks. Whereas we found no differences in learning outcome or extraneous cognitive load, students in the enhanced guidance group reported less intrinsic motivation, and logfiles revealed a lower programming performance. In study 2, we implemented enhanced guidance in the form of adaptive just-in-time explanations for error streaks. Enhanced guidance led to a lower extraneous cognitive load, and this way increased learning outcome. Implications: The type and timing of instructional guidance for students in computer science matters. More guidance is not better in each case. Instructional guidance should be tailored to students' needs.

Digitalization in combination with the shortage of skilled workers is a significant challenge that has to be faced. Especially the IT sector is characterized by agile and complex developments. In this context, academic further training of IT specialists is crucial to meet the requirements of the IT labor market. The University of Applied Science Weserbergland in Hamelin (Germany) (Hochschule Weserbergland) developed different IT study programs within the research project "Open IT" against the background of the described developments. The study programs "Bachelor of Business Informatics" and "Master IT Business Management" are designed for IT specialists and IT experts with initial and advanced training. These study programs are the first of its kind for the IT sector in Germany due to the recognition of previous professional qualifications. The study programs and their development process are described in this paper. The Deutero concept in terms of organizational learning is the theoretical basis for this article. Single-loop learning and double-loop learning are applied to the research project.

Data science surrounds us in contexts as diverse as climate change, air pollution, route-finding, genomics, market manipulation, and movie recommendations. To open the "data-science-black-box" for lower secondary school students, we developed a data science teaching unit focusing on the analysis of environmental data, which we embedded in a ninth-grade computer science class. In this unit, students experience a new insight-driven programming approach, using Jupyter Notebook and the programming language Python for their data analysis. In this paper, we evaluate the second cycle of this project, report how the students coped with the Jupyter Notebooks for doing statistical investigations and describe the insights they gained.

Given the rapid advances in information communication technology (ICT) and the ever-increasing likelihood that students will be collaborating on cross-cultural teams in their future careers, creating opportunities to engage in collaborative writing projects across borders and then observing the dynamics of international virtual online collaboration have high pedagogical value, though studies are scarce. This research examines the learning process that occurred when engineering and computer science students from France and Germany were connected with business and technical writing students from the US to work on co-authored documents. The researchers were specifically interested in how students addressed the situational constraints of the collaboration and how those constraints influenced students' choices of communication and collaboration tools. Two separate projects were assigned and each employed reading, writing, "talking," and critical thinking components. Analysis of post-project survey data and the correlation of students' ICT choices revealed students had to continually renegotiate their communication and collaboration. Allowing students to make rhetorical choices resulted in cultural learning through hands-on experience with these constraint variables: English language proficiency, cultural differences, project complexity, time difference, and technology. The results from this study will be useful to ESP pedagogy in projecting how to prepare students for international virtual collaboration.

This article charts some of the historical paths that have helped bring forth, in late-modern societies, what I call scientised educational discourses and practices. Though the project of forming the 'scientific man' can be traced back to the nineteenth century, it is argued that the nature of the project changed once it became aligned with the Cold War sciences, especially cybernetics, computer science and psychology. How former military scientists and researchers from various disciplines generated algorithmic and computational ideas of the human mind that entered the fields of education, teaching and learning during the Cold War era is reconstructed. These ideas not only had a decisive role in shaping scientised subjects such as the lifelong learner, they also inspired the emergence of new scientific disciplines. One example is the field of empirically based educational research in West Germany, which -- in its 'scientised form -- was not very well established in West Germany prior to the 1960s.

The ability to categorize concepts is an essential capability for human thinking and action. On the one hand, the investigation of such abilities is the purview of psychology; on the other hand, subject-specific educational research is also of interest, as a number of research works in the field of science education show. For computer science education, no corresponding studies are currently available. However, investigating how learners build categories from a choice of given terms may be useful for several reasons; for example, learners' perspectives on relations between terms, as well as potential misconceptions, can be detected and made available to educators aiming to improve lesson planning. Therefore, we conducted an empirical study with 490 German students from primary to higher education, in which we presented them with 23 information technology-related terms (such as computer, Facebook, hard drive, virus) on a questionnaire, with the task of assigning these to self-defined categories (and then giving their categories individual names). In the results, we identified a number of potential categorization strategies the participants might have used to categorize the given terms; these include generalization, purpose, place of use, state, part-whole relationships, and association. Recognizing and defining such categorization strategies can help teachers construct learner-adequate concept maps of the domain, which helps foster the elaboration of learners' knowledge structures in this field. We found that the younger participants used less abstract names for their categories, and observed that some participants had difficulty categorizing some terms (such as robot and 3D).

Under the auspices of a DAAD funded educational project, a subproject devoted to different aspects of teaching the Java programming language started several years ago. The initial intention of the subproject was to attract members of the subproject to prepare some teaching materials for teaching essentials of the Java programming language. During the last two years, some advanced Java topics have been selected and appropriate teaching materials have been produced. The available pool of common teaching materials can be used in a wide range of university courses in participating countries. In this paper we share some of the results and experiences collected during the subproject that come from intensive use of the prepared teaching materials for a variety of Java topics in different countries and universities.

Each of the 16 federal states of Germany has its own school system and also its own policy to integrate informatics, computer science or ICT into this system. Till present there aren't any tests of students' knowledge on a nation-wide level. Therefore nation-wide or international contests currently offer the only opportunities to compare the knowledge of the participating students on a large scale level. By evaluating the overall performance of the students of different federal states, we were able to compare the effectiveness of different approaches of teaching Informatics at secondary schools.

Modern capstone courses use agile methods to deliver and demonstrate software early in the project. However, a simple demonstration of functional and static aspects does not provide real-world software usage context, although this is integral to understand software requirements. Software engineering involves capabilities such as creativity, imagination, and interaction, which are typically not emphasized in software engineering courses. A more engaging, dynamic way of presenting software prototypes is needed to demonstrate the context in which the software is used. We combine agile methods, scenario-based design, and theatrical aspects into software theater, an approach to present visionary scenarios using techniques borrowed from theater and film, including props and humor. We describe the software theater workflow, provide examples, and explain patterns to demonstrate its potential. We illustrate two large case studies in which we teach students with varying levels of experience to apply software theater: a capstone course involving industrial customers with 100 students and an interactive lecture-based course with 400 students. We empirically evaluated the use of software theater in both courses. Our evaluations show that students can understand and apply software theater within one semester and that this technique increases their motivation to prepare demonstrations even early in the project. Software theater is more creative, memorable, dynamic, and engaging than normal demonstration techniques and brings fun into education.

The paper deals with the aspects of professional training of specialists in computational linguistics by the example of the University of Stuttgart. First of all, we have attempted to define the essence of the terms "applied linguistics" and "computational linguistics" based on the views of Ukrainian and foreign scholars. We have found out that there is an obvious inconsistency in using these terms as Ukrainian scholars view it as a science related to practical application of linguistic achievements with the use of the latest technologies, whereas abroad they believe that computational linguistics is aimed at developing strategies for researches on natural languages. However, applied linguistics is related to language teaching methodology. We have concluded that German scholars view computational linguistics as a cognitive science that attempts to most successfully apply the achievements of linguistics in practice. Based on the view, German universities develop curricula that encompass theoretical and practical aspects of computational linguistics to prepare modern specialists able to comprehend the complexity of the field and be willing to adapt to challenges of a globalized world. Consequently, we have described the peculiarities of the programmes of a Bachelor of Science in Machine Language Programming and a Master of Science in Computational Linguistics. We have defined that duration of the programmes is traditional--three and two years respectively. Their structure comprises obligatory and elective courses, including Computer Science, Mathematics and Linguistics. In addition, future specialists may develop key professional competences attending seminars and colloquiums, participating in research projects, etc. It has been indicated that the list of electives involves those subjects aimed at enhancing future specialists' skills in linguistics as well as computer science, yet they are entitled to suggest what they are interested in even if such courses are not included. We have also suggested that rather perspective are further studies on the essence of the terms "applied linguistics" and "computational linguistics" based on the research findings of scholars all over the world.

In recent years, universities have been increasingly complaining that the basic mathematics skills of new students barely satisfy the requirements of many degree courses. They criticise the high dropout rates, especially in mathematics and natural sciences degrees, and link them to the lack of basic skills of university entrants. Many universities are reacting to this problem by setting up or reorganising preparatory courses in subjects with mathematical content. School knowledge in mathematics is usually repeated in these preparatory courses. The orientation of these preparatory courses is, however, very heterogeneous and ranges from the teaching of skills to development of general competences. The type of preparatory course (e-learning or classroom based course) also varies. The effect of such preparatory courses is being examined at many universities via preliminary tests and follow-up tests. Using Kassel University as an example, we are examining the possible correlations between the examination results in maths, attendance of a preparatory course and the test results at the start of the course. We are also looking at whether correlations between the type of preparatory course, classroom-based or e-learning, and the exam results can be established. We are also interested in whether it is possible to predict the course progress with the help of a test at the start of the course. The article shows the possibilities and the limits in deriving information from data on test and exam results. This could be an interesting perspective for many universities.

The subject of computer science (CS) and computer science education (CSE) has relatively recently arisen as a subject for inclusion within the compulsory school curriculum. Up to this present time, a major focus of technologies in the school curriculum has in many countries been on applications of existing technologies into subject practice (both software such as office applications, and hardware such as robots and sensors). Through uses of these applications, information and communications technologies (ICT) have focused on activities to support subject and topic learning (across wide age and subject ranges). Very recently, discussions for including computers in the curriculum have shifted to a much greater focus on computing and CS, more concerned with uses of and development of programming, together with fundamental principles of problem-solving and creativity. This paper takes a policy analysis approach; it considers evidence of current implementation of CSE in school curricula, the six main arguments for wider-scale introduction of the subject, the implications for researchers, schools, teachers and learners, the state of current discussions in a range of countries, and evidence of outcomes of CSE in compulsory curricula. The paper concludes by raising key questions for the future from a policy analysis perspective.

Democratic principles and human rights, the core values of the Council of Europe, informed the development of the "Common European Framework of Reference for Languages" (CEFR; Council of Europe 2001. "Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment." Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/Source/Framework_EN.pdf (accessed 20 January 2016)) and the European Language Portfolio (ELP) with its focus on learner autonomy. In Bremen, the smallest federal state of Germany, the validated ELP for the school sector shared the destiny of other ELP models: long-term implementation failed. However, a different fate awaited the electronic version, EPOS, developed not only for the school sector, but for the 20 institutional members of the Sprachenrat Bremen, the Language Council of Bremen. The cooperation of the Language Centre of the four public universities of Bremen with the Department of Computer Science at the University of Bremen was and still is a crucial factor for the development of EPOS, the "Elektronisches Europäisches Portfolio der Sprachen" (Electronic European Language Portfolio). Today, EPOS is supported by the EPOS Association. This article gives three examples of how EPOS is used in member institutions of the association in Germany and the UK and concludes by explaining how EPOS might collaborate with two projects of the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) in Graz, FREPA/CARAP (Framework of Reference for Pluralistic Approaches) and EPOSTL (European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages).

How teachers are able to adapt to a changing environment is essentially dependent on their beliefs and motivational orientations. The development of these aspects in the context of professional competence takes place during teachers' educational phase and professional practice. The overall understanding of professional competence for teaching computer science follows the notion of empirical educational research including beliefs and motivational aspects. This article aims to investigate relevant domain-specific beliefs and motivational orientations for teaching computer science and their consideration in curricula for computer science teacher education. Therefore, results of an expert interview study based on the critical incident technique lead to appropriate descriptions for domain-relevant beliefs and motivational orientations. Results of a broad curriculum analysis indicate how those aspects are normatively considered in computer science university and school education in Germany. The data were analyzed by qualitative content analysis.

Concept maps have a long history in educational settings as a tool for teaching, learning, and assessing. As an assessment tool, they are predominantly used to extract the structural configuration of learners' knowledge. This article presents an investigation of the knowledge structures of a large group of beginning CS students. The investigation is based on a method that collects, aggregates, and automatically analyzes the concept maps of a group of learners as a whole, to identify common structural configurations and differences in the learners' knowledge. It shows that those students who have attended CS education in their secondary school life have, on average, configured their knowledge about typical core CS/OOP concepts differently. Also, artifacts of their particular CS curriculum are visible in their externalized knowledge. The data structures and analysis methods necessary for working with concept landscapes have been implemented as a GNU R package that is freely available.

Aiming to collect various concepts, approaches, and strategies for improving computer science education in K-12 schools, we edited this second special issue of the "ACM TOCE" journal. Our intention was to collect a set of case studies from different countries that would describe all relevant aspects of specific implementations of Computer Science Education in K-12 schools. By this, we want to deliver well-founded arguments and rich material to the critical discussion about the state and the goals of K-12 computer science education, and also provide visions for the future of this research area. In this editorial, we explain our intention and report some details about the genesis of these special issues. Following, we give a short summary of the Darmstadt Model, which was suggested to serve as a structuring principle of the case studies. The next part of the editorial presents a short description of the five extended case studies from India, Korea, NRW/Germany, Finland, and USA that are selected to be included in this second issue. In order to give some perspectives for the future, we propose a set of open research questions of the field, partly derived from the Darmstadt Model, partly stimulated by a look on large-scale investigations like PISA.

In North-Rhine Westphalia, the most populated state in Germany, Computer Science (CS) has been taught in secondary schools since the early 1970s. This article provides an overview of the past and current situation of CS education in North-Rhine Westphalia, including lessons learned through efforts to introduce and to maintain CS in secondary education. In particular, we focus on the differential school system and the educational landscape of CS education, the different facets of CS teacher education, and CS education research programs and directions that are directly connected with these aspects. In addition, this report offers a rationale for including CS education in general education, which includes the educational value of CS for students in today's information and knowledge society. Through this article, we ultimately provide an overview of the significant elements that are crucial for the successful integration of CS as a compulsory subject within secondary schools.

Purpose: The development of a K-12 computer science curriculum based on constructivist principles needs to be informed by knowledge of content and process concepts that are central to the discipline of computer science. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach: Taking a cross-cultural approach and using an experimental design (a SPF-2•15×16 split-plot design), this study compares the combinations of content and process concepts identified as important in Germany with those considered relevant in the US context. Findings: First, the combinations of content and process concepts identified in the German context can be generalized to the US context. Second, it is possible to identify combinations of content and process concepts in the US context that are also important in the German context. Third, content and process concepts identified in the two contexts can be integrated to generate a broader perspective that is valid for both contexts. Practical implications: The results can be used for consolidating available curricular drafts for computer science as a teaching subject at school of the type available in many. The present findings are of great relevance for research-based approaches to the pre- and in-service education of computer science teachers. The methodological approach taken is important in efforts to consolidate curricular models of computer science education, as have been initiated by the Bologna process in Europe and by the organizations Association for Computing Machinery, Association for Information Systems, and Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers-Computer Society in the USA. Originality/value: Results show that competence areas of central concepts identified in the two contexts can be integrated to generate a broader perspective that is valid for both contexts.

To address the special challenges of teaching computer science, adequate development of teachers' competencies during their education is extremely important. In particular, pedagogical content knowledge and teachers' beliefs and motivational orientations play an important role in effective teaching. This research field has been sparsely investigated up to now and there exists no consistent competency model for teaching computer science in Germany. Therefore, this paper describes the development of competency in the areas of pedagogical content knowledge, teachers' beliefs, and motivational orientations with regard to computer science. Competency-relevant factors for teaching computer science are theoretically derived and concretely formulated with the help of expert interviews conducted according to the critical incident technique and analyzed using techniques of qualitative content analysis.

This paper presents a web-based education platform for the visualization and animation of the digital logic design process. This includes the design of combinatorial circuits using logic gates, multiplexers, decoders, and look-up-tables as well as the design of finite state machines. Various configurations of finite state machines can be selected to define the machine type, the state code, and the flip-flop type. Logic minimization with the K-map approach and the Quine McCluskey scheme is also supported. The tools, denoted as DLD-VISU, help students practice related topics in digital logic design courses. Also, instructors can use the tools to efficiently generate and verify examples for lecture notes or for homework problems and assignments. DLD-VISU was designed relying on a thorough investigation of related pedagogical aspects to define appropriate interactive graphical processes. The decision for a web-based solution, on the one hand, was motivated by making the tools available, portable, expandable, and at the same time transparent to the user. On the other hand, the advocated approach enables instructors to define access rules for their students to assure that students cannot use the tools to solve assessed homework problems or assignments before submission deadline. DLD-VISU supports self-assessment and reflects the student learning process using learning curves. The proposed platform was evaluated both in form of students' feedback as well as by analyzing the impact of using the tools on students' performance.

The authors discuss empirically determined competence areas to K-12 computer science education, emphasizing the cognitive level of competence. The results of a questionnaire with 120 professors of computer science serve as a database. By using multi-dimensional scaling and cluster analysis, four competence areas to computer science education characterized by the degree of process-related coverage and educational accessibility can be defined: "Information technology," "computer communication" and "cooperation," "model building," and "software engineering." These competence areas consist of central content concepts of computer science (e.g., "algorithm," "system," and "process") combined with central process concepts of computer science (e.g., "analyzing," "classifying," "problem solving," and "posing").

We report on the development, validation, and implementation of a collection of test items designed to detect misconceptions related to first-year computer science courses. To this end, we reworked the development scheme proposed by Almstrum et al. ("SIGCSE Bulletin" 38(4):132-145, 2006) to include students' artifacts and to simultaneously incorporate think-aloud interviews and flash tests. We also investigated to what extent the practical efficiency of detecting certain misconceptions could be increased without significantly affecting the sensitivity of the instrument, and present positive and negative results regarding this goal. The results of a first transfer and implementation study suggest that it is indeed possible to use the test items in a large-scale practical setting--both as diagnostic instruments and as interventions.

In this paper, the authors reviewed the empirical augmented reality (AR) and online education studies, and those focused on designing or development of AR to help students learn, published in SSCI, SCI-EXPANDED, and A&HCI journals from 2003 to 2012. The authors in this study found that the number of AR and online education studies has significantly increased since 2009. Based on this review, it is found that contributors from Spain, Romania, Taiwan, and Germany had the most publications on AR and online education during 2003 to 2012. Moreover, the analysis of these selected papers reveals that most empirical AR and online education studies were conducted at universities, as well as in computer science courses. Furthermore, the quantitative research method was used more in the reviewed papers. The findings and analysis from this review may provide potential directions and insights for future AR and online education research.

In 2004 the German state of Bavaria introduced a new compulsory subject of computer science (CS) in its grammar schools ("Gymnasium"). The subject is based on a comprehensive teaching concept that was developed by the author and his colleagues during the years 1995-2000. It comprises mandatory courses in grades 6/7 for all students of grammar schools and in grade 9/10 for the students of the science and technology track of this school type. In grades 11 and 12 there are elective courses that qualify for an optional graduation exam in CS. The first students that have attended the course in total graduated in 2011. This article describes the whole project in the form of an extensive case study that is guided by the "Darmstadt Model," which was developed as a category system for computer science education in secondary schools by a working group at ITiCSE 2011. This case study is the first (nearly) all-embracing discussion of the whole project that describes the long way from the original concept to the first graduates as well as the internal structure of the subject and the first results. (Contains 11 figures, 10 tables and 5 footnotes.)

Purpose: In the process of the implementation of the eBologna program and the recent change of the university system, curricula at German universities have been redesigned; courses have been condensed and learning content has been re-structured into modules, each of which requires an evaluation. Simultaneously, skills required for working in research and development changed; knowledge of mathematical or numerical algorithms and programming skills play an increasingly important role in the daily job routine of the working engineer. The purpose of this paper is to describe, implement and test a new course on numerical simulations along with a new software infrastructure, addressing this predicament. Design/methodology/approach: To support learning by practical exercises, engineering faculties, the faculties of mathematics and physics, and the Computing Center of the University of Stuttgart setup a project for implementing an online programming lab for teaching the required skills. The focus of this project is to provide easy access to the necessary software tools, to avoid the overhead of installation and maintenance, and to seamlessly integrate these tools into the e-learning infrastructure of the university. Findings: Student evaluations showed a high acceptance of the project and the developed software is now well-accepted and taken as a self-evident part of the homework routine. Originality/value: An online programming lab that integrates seamlessly into the e-learning infrastructure of the university and is platform and system independent by following the established SCORM standard. (Contains 3 figures, 1 table and 2 notes.)

The significance of computer science for economics and society is undisputed. In particular, computer science is acknowledged to play a key role in schools (e.g., by opening multiple career paths). The provision of effective computer science education in schools is dependent on teachers who are able to properly represent the discipline and whose in-depth knowledge of the subject encompasses recent advances in the research. This article examines the assessment of content and process concepts relevant for K-12 computer science education by computer science teachers and computer science professors. The findings show that computer science professors attach more importance to content concepts of computer science (e.g., "algorithm," "model," "system") in terms of several process concepts (e.g., "analyzing," "problem solving," "investigating") than computer science teachers. These results should be taken into account by training programs for both pre-service and in-service teachers of computer science. (Contains 2 footnotes, 1 table, and 5 figures.)