A model for teaching informatics to German secondary school students in English-language bilingual education

  • Informatics as a school subject has been virtually absent from bilingual education programs in German secondary schools. Most bilingual programs in German secondary education started out by focusing on subjects from the field of social sciences. Teachers and bilingual curriculum experts alike have been regarding those as the most suitable subjects for bilingual instruction – largely due to the intercultural perspective that a bilingual approach provides. And though one cannot deny the gain that ensues from an intercultural perspective on subjects such as history or geography, this benefit is certainly not limited to social science subjects. In consequence, bilingual curriculum designers have already begun to include other subjects such as physics or chemistry in bilingual school programs. It only seems a small step to extend this to informatics. This paper will start out by addressing potential benefits of adding informatics to the range of subjects taught as part of English-language bilingual programs in German secondary education.Informatics as a school subject has been virtually absent from bilingual education programs in German secondary schools. Most bilingual programs in German secondary education started out by focusing on subjects from the field of social sciences. Teachers and bilingual curriculum experts alike have been regarding those as the most suitable subjects for bilingual instruction – largely due to the intercultural perspective that a bilingual approach provides. And though one cannot deny the gain that ensues from an intercultural perspective on subjects such as history or geography, this benefit is certainly not limited to social science subjects. In consequence, bilingual curriculum designers have already begun to include other subjects such as physics or chemistry in bilingual school programs. It only seems a small step to extend this to informatics. This paper will start out by addressing potential benefits of adding informatics to the range of subjects taught as part of English-language bilingual programs in German secondary education. In a second step it will sketch out a methodological (= didactical) model for teaching informatics to German learners through English. It will then provide two items of hands-on and tested teaching material in accordance with this model. The discussion will conclude with a brief outlook on the chances and prerequisites of firmly establishing informatics as part of bilingual school curricula in Germany.show moreshow less

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Metadaten
Author details:Martin Weise
URN:urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-64568
ISSN:1868-0844
ISSN:2191-1940
Title of parent work (German):Commentarii informaticae didacticae : (CID)
Publisher:Universitätsverlag Potsdam
Place of publishing:Potsdam
Publication type:Article
Language:English
Publication year:2013
Publishing institution:Universität Potsdam
Release date:2013/02/28
Issue:6
Number of pages:11
First page:127
Last Page:137
Source:Informatics in schools : local proceedings of the 6th International Conference ISSEP 2013 ; selected papers ; Oldenburg, Germany, February 26–March 2, 2013/Diethelm et al. (Eds.)/ Potsdam: Universitätsverlag Potsdam, 2013/ S. 127-137
Organizational units:Extern / Extern
DDC classification:0 Informatik, Informationswissenschaft, allgemeine Werke / 00 Informatik, Wissen, Systeme / 004 Datenverarbeitung; Informatik
Collection(s):Universität Potsdam / Schriftenreihen / Commentarii informaticae didacticae (CID) / CID (2013) 06
Universität Potsdam / Schriftenreihen / Commentarii informaticae didacticae (CID) / CID (2013) 06 / Different Views
License (German):License LogoCreative Commons - Namensnennung, 3.0 Deutschland
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