Elements of German Informatics Curricula

Four Questions 

Historical Remarks 

Problems – Solutions 

Summary – Bibliography 

Elements of German Informatics Curricula 

Dr. rer. nat. Ludger Humbert 1,2 

1 Willy-Brandt-Gesamtschule Bergkamen 

2 Studienseminare Hamm, Arnsberg (Fachleiter Informatik) 

12. December 2005 

http://humbert.in.hagen.de/ 

L. Humbert Informatics Curricula

Outline 





1 Questions 

The Beginning 

Research in Didactics in Informatics 

2 Historical Remarks 

Elements of History – Recommendations 

1968–1973 

1976 – timeline 

1994–2005 

3 Problems – Solutions 

Status: not really solved 

Misunderstanding and General Approaches 

Situation in Northrhine-Westfalia (NW) 

4 Summary – Bibliography 

Summary 

Bibliography 


Questions (1/4) 





The Beginning 


Why should Informatics be taught? 

In the beginning it was just the opinion of some teachers: 

the elements, which constitute the science informatics and 

enable us to build informatics systems are so fanscinating 

and different from other experiences, that pupils and 

students (like those teachers) will like it very much. 

Today you’ll find several (controversal) substantiations on 

this topic—the main element mentioned by the most of 

them: Education should enable pupils and students to 

»drive the[ir] future«. If Informatics has a unique selling 

point, which is a nessacary element in education and no 

other subject can fulfill, then Informatics has to be 

mandatory [Klafki 1991, key qualifications (in German)]. 







The Beginning 





















The Beginning 





















The Beginning 


What to teach in Informatics? 

in the 60th: 

Boolean Algebra, von Neumann Principle 

construction of hardware elements (adder, coder, . . . ) 

in the 70th: 

algorithms and data structures 

problem solving by »stepwise refinement« [Wirth 1971] 

»’go to’ considered harmful« [Dijkstra 1968] 

in the 80th: 

standard algorithms (searching and sorting) [Knuth 1973] 

some nonprocedural languages were tested 

»A potporri of some well known elements does not 

constitute a curriculum« cf. [Nievergelt 1991] 







The Beginning 



in the 60th: 



in the 70th: 




in the 80th: 











The Beginning 



in the 60th: 



in the 70th: 




in the 80th: 











The Beginning 



in the 60th: 



in the 70th: 




in the 80th: 











The Beginning 



in the 60th: 



in the 70th: 




in the 80th: 











The Beginning 


Which subject should those Elements belong to? 

Until today there are many teachers in mathematics and 

physics, which adopt that a whole bunch of those themes 

could be taught in their [primary] subject. 

Whom to teach Informatics? 

In the beginning many of us thought, that it is necessary to 

teach Informatics to all children, but we noticed that our 

society will increasingly depend on knowledge in 

informatics. But there are—up to this very day there are 

many obstacles for implementing a new mandatory subject 

in all schools. This remains to be worked at.. 







The Beginning 



















The Beginning 



















The Beginning 



















The Beginning 


Which teachers teach Informatics? 

In the beginning, in Germany only teachers who where 

personally interested in some of the facets of informatics 

developed courses, in their spare time, because there was 

no didactic of informatics. 

This situation was’nt changed until 1996, when the first 

chair for Didactics of Informatics was given to 

Prof. Dr. Andreas Schwill in Potsdam (Brandenburg). 







The Beginning 
















The Beginning 















The Beginning 


Locations: Didactics of Informatics – Germany 2005 

A number of Professors for Didactics 

of Informatics were put 

[primary] at the faculties of Informatics 

around Germany in 

the last ten years. The author 

is the second one [first was 

Prof. Dr. Marco Thomas (now at 

Münster), who got his PhD at 

Potsdam] – the author did most 

of his work at Dortmund and 

got his PhD at Siegen (1st referee 

Prof. Dr. Sigrid Schubert, 

2nd referee Prof. Dr. Andreas 

Schwill) 

Paderborn 

Münster 

Potsdam 

Jena 

Berlin 

Erlangen 

Hamburg 

Aachen 

Dortmund 

München 

[Humbert 2005, p. 56] 

Duisburg 

Dresden 

Siegen 






From ACM to IFIP (1) 

1968–1973 


1994–2005 

USA—ACM 

1968 First curricular Recommendations for Undergraduate 

Courses in the USA [ACM 1968] 

Germany – Northrhine-Westfalia 

1969 First Courses in Informatics in Germany 

(Gesamtschule Berger Feld, Gelsenkirchen) 

[CUU-Gruppe Gelsenkirchen 1973] 

Basis for Curriculum-Construction in Northrhine-Westfalia 

(Federal State with most inhabitants in Germany) 

Goal: Identifying Problems to get students in touch with 

Informatics 







1968–1973 


1994–2005 

USA—ACM 

















1968–1973 


1994–2005 

USA—ACM 

















1968–1973 


1994–2005 

USA—ACM 

















1968–1973 


1994–2005 

USA—ACM 

















1968–1973 


1994–2005 

USA—ACM 

















1968–1973 


1994–2005 

USA—ACM 

















1968–1973 


1994–2005 

Germany – German Society of Informatics (GI e. V.) – [GI 2003] 

1976 German Society for Informatics – Curricular 

Recommandations for Secondary II-Schools in Germany 

[Brauer u. a. 1976] 

Main goal: Problem Solving by construction of algorithms 

and datastructures 

approaches to 

didactics of informatics ... 

recursion oriented 

method 

in teaching 

informatics 

problem-oriented 

"top-down" 

approach 

in teaching 

informatics 

attempt 

for a 

consistent 

concept 

orientation on 

fundamental 

concepts of 

informatics 

scientific view 

on the topics 

in teaching 

informatics 

recommendations 

for a concept 

concerning informatics 

in general 

school system 

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 







1968–1973 


1994–2005 







approaches to 



method 

in teaching 

informatics 


"top-down" 

approach 

in teaching 

informatics 

attempt 

for a 

consistent 

concept 


fundamental 


informatics 


on the topics 

in teaching 

informatics 


for a concept 


in general 

school system 

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 







1968–1973 


1994–2005 







approaches to 



method 

in teaching 

informatics 


"top-down" 

approach 

in teaching 

informatics 

attempt 

for a 

consistent 

concept 


fundamental 


informatics 


on the topics 

in teaching 

informatics 


for a concept 


in general 

school system 

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 







1968–1973 


1994–2005 







approaches to 



method 

in teaching 

informatics 


"top-down" 

approach 

in teaching 

informatics 

attempt 

for a 

consistent 

concept 


fundamental 


informatics 


on the topics 

in teaching 

informatics 


for a concept 


in general 

school system 

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 







1968–1973 


1994–2005 

IFIP/UNESCO – Recommendations 

1994 »Informatics for secondary education: a curriculum 

for schools« [van Weert u. a. 1994] 

2000 »Information and Communication Technology in 

Secondary Education—A Curriculum for Schools« 

[van Weert u. a. 2000] 

2000 »IFIP/UNESCO Informatics Curriculum Framework 

2000—Building effective higher Education Informatics 

Curricula in a Situation of Change« 

[Mulder and van Weert 2000] 







1968–1973 


1994–2005 

















1968–1973 


1994–2005 

















1968–1973 


1994–2005 
















. . . to Germany . . . to IFIP (4) 

1968–1973 


1994–2005 

Recommendations—design and development of first Standards 

2000 »Gesamtkonzept zur informatischen Bildung an 

allgemein bildenden Schulen« [GI 2000] 

2004 »Dagstuhl-Seminar: Concepts of Empirical Research 

and Standardisation of Measurement in the Area of 

Didactics of Informatics« [Magenheim and Schubert 2004] 

2005 World Congress Computers in Education 

(WCCE—South Africa): Workshop on Standards in 

Informatics Education 







1968–1973 


1994–2005 
















1968–1973 


1994–2005 
















1968–1973 


1994–2005 


















The Problem – What are we talking about? 

Informatics (Definitions) 

A science? 

Answers the question: 

What can be efficiently 

automated? 

»That means, it views 

itself as a formal and an 

engineering science, 

relying strongly on the 

traditional scientific 

paradigm« 

[Floyd u. a. 1992, p. 19]. 

Why not CS, ICT, IT . . . ? 

Initiatives . . . 

The key 

ICDL – supported by 

IFIP ;-( 

is: information 

scientific approach 

subject: informatics 

(and _not_ computer 

science) 











A science? 



automated? 






paradigm« 

[Floyd u. a. 1992, p. 19]. 



The key 


IFIP ;-( 





science) 











A science? 



automated? 






paradigm« 

[Floyd u. a. 1992, p. 19]. 



The key 


IFIP ;-( 





science) 











A science? 



automated? 






paradigm« 

[Floyd u. a. 1992, p. 19]. 



The key 


IFIP ;-( 





science) 











A science? 



automated? 






paradigm« 

[Floyd u. a. 1992, p. 19]. 



The key 


IFIP ;-( 





science) 











A science? 



automated? 






paradigm« 

[Floyd u. a. 1992, p. 19]. 



The key 


IFIP ;-( 





science) 











A science? 



automated? 






paradigm« 

[Floyd u. a. 1992, p. 19]. 



The key 


IFIP ;-( 





science) 


Fundamentals? 





Misunderstanding, what 

subject matter/topics 

Informatics includes 

leads to 

Misleading »concepts« 

hardware course 

programming course 

application training 

course 

.. . . —orientation 




General approaches 

Fundamental Ideas 

—1993: [Schwill 1994] 

algorithmization 

structured dissection 

language 

Information centered — 

1996: [Hubwieser u. a. 1997] 

Representing 

Information 

Interpretation of Data as 

Information 


Fundamentals? 








leads to 





course 







—1993: [Schwill 1994] 



language 


1996: [Hubwieser u. a. 1997] 

Representing 

Information 


Information 


Fundamentals? 








leads to 





course 







—1993: [Schwill 1994] 



language 


1996: [Hubwieser u. a. 1997] 

Representing 

Information 


Information 


Fundamentals? 








leads to 





course 







—1993: [Schwill 1994] 



language 


1996: [Hubwieser u. a. 1997] 

Representing 

Information 


Information 


Fundamentals? 








leads to 





course 







—1993: [Schwill 1994] 



language 


1996: [Hubwieser u. a. 1997] 

Representing 

Information 


Information 


Fundamentals? 








leads to 





course 







—1993: [Schwill 1994] 



language 


1996: [Hubwieser u. a. 1997] 

Representing 

Information 


Information 


Fundamentals? 








leads to 





course 







—1993: [Schwill 1994] 



language 


1996: [Hubwieser u. a. 1997] 

Representing 

Information 


Information 


Fundamentals? 








leads to 





course 







—1993: [Schwill 1994] 



language 


1996: [Hubwieser u. a. 1997] 

Representing 

Information 


Information 


Fundamentals? 








leads to 





course 







—1993: [Schwill 1994] 



language 


1996: [Hubwieser u. a. 1997] 

Representing 

Information 


Information 


Fundamentals? 








leads to 





course 







—1993: [Schwill 1994] 



language 


1996: [Hubwieser u. a. 1997] 

Representing 

Information 


Information 


Fundamentals? 








leads to 





course 







—1993: [Schwill 1994] 



language 


1996: [Hubwieser u. a. 1997] 

Representing 

Information 


Information 


Fundamentals? 








leads to 





course 







—1993: [Schwill 1994] 



language 


1996: [Hubwieser u. a. 1997] 

Representing 

Information 


Information 


Fundamentals? 








leads to 





course 







—1993: [Schwill 1994] 



language 


1996: [Hubwieser u. a. 1997] 

Representing 

Information 


Information 






Institutional—structural deficits? 




Germany—hexadecimal structured educational system 

regional organized loosely coupled educational systems 

advantage: testing specific approaches localy 

disadvantage: every development has to look for regional 

specifics 

agreement on what students have to know, when they 

leave school (examination before university) [KMK 2004] 

EPA—Central Elements for Exams in Informatics in Germany 

modelling, implementation, informatics concepts & methods, 

analysing concepts, etc. [KMK 2004, pp. 12] 














specifics 



















specifics 



















specifics 



















specifics 



















specifics 



















specifics 







Institutional 









Central Exams a (first in 2007) – 

[van Briel (federführend) u. a. 2005] 

Example assignments online – 

http://www.learn-line.nrw.de/angebote/ 

abitur/download/+«if*« and +«inf*« 

Curricular Guidelines for upper secondary 

level—[MSWWF 1999] 

a Zentralabitur Informatik Nordrhein-Westfalen 


Institutional 


















Institutional 


















Institutional 


















Institutional 






















Implementation—Perspective 

Implementation in Northrhine-Westfalia (NW) 




Material developed ~15 years ago (named: Stifte und 

Mäuse)—distributed as [Czischke u. a. 1999] 

Minimal advanced training was carried out—additional 

material was produced 

http://www.learn-line.de/angebote/oop/ 

Connecting Didactics and Real Teaching—OECD-PISA-style 

First approach 2003 — Material in English: 

[Humbert and Puhlmann 2004], [Puhlmann 2005] 

Working on nationwide Standards—carried out first 

elements (development á la NCTM) 

































































































































A Phenomen as Access to Informatics Education 




























How does the till know 

the price of the milk? 



















Answers (12 year old 

childs): 

»the price is in the 

barcode« to »the 

price is stored in the 

till /a computer« 









The process of modelling in informatics 

informatics 

world 

model 

formalize 

situation 

process 

validate 

problem solution 

consequences 

interpret 

results 

[Humbert and Puhlmann 2005, Figure 2] 






Summary 

Summary Informatics Education 

What has to be done . . . will be done? 

Informatics education is a mandatory subject for all pupils 

and students—in some regions in Germany (not in NW) 

Concept for Informatics at schools in Germany exists 

[GI 2000]—has to be implemented 

Standing on the shoulder of this concept Informatics at 

schools will change 

Informatics enables students to understand the 

»Informatics inside«–World and act responsible 

Phenomena should picked as starting and focal points in 

Informatics education in school 






Summary 


















Summary 


















Summary 


















Summary 


















Summary 


















Summary 


















Summary 

ACM: 

ACM Curriculum Committee on Computer Science. Curriculum 68: Recommendations for the undergraduate 

program in computer science. 

In: Comm. ACM 

(1968), March. – 

Curriculum Committee on Computer Science 

BRAUER, Wilfried ; CLAUS, Volker ; DEUSSEN, Peter ; JÜRGEN EICKEL (FEDERFÜHREND) ; HAACKE, Wolfhart 

; HOSSEUS, Winfried ; KOSTER, Cornelis H. A. ; OLLESKY, Dieter ; WEINHART, Karl ; GESELLSCHAFT FÜR 

INFORMATIK E. V.: 

Zielsetzungen und Inhalte des Informatikunterrichts. 

In: ZDM 

8 (1976), Nr. 1, S. 35–43. – 

ZDM – Zentralblatt für Didaktik der Mathematik. – 

ISSN 0044–4103 

BRIEL (FEDERFÜHREND), Wolfgang van ; DINGEMANN (FEDERFÜHREND), Klaus ; LINK, Dietmar ; 

WÜSTHOFF, Hans-Jürgen ; HAHLWEG, Ebbo ; ESCHEN, Focke ; LOMEN, Franz ; KLEMISCH, Ingo ; PSARSKI, 

Klaus ; MALTE, Reuter ; STIRBA, Norbert ; PÖRSCHKE, Wolfgang: 

Vorgaben zu den unterrichtlichen Voraussetzungen für die schriftlichen Prüfungen im Abitur in der 

gymnasialen Oberstufe im Jahr 2007. Vorgaben für das Fach Informatik. 

Februar 2005. – 

http://www.learn-line.nrw.de/angebote/abitur/download/if-k-vorgaben.pdf – geprüft: 

5. Dezember 2005 

CUU-GRUPPE GELSENKIRCHEN (Hrsg.): 

Entwurf einer Unterrrichtsstruktur des Faches Informatik an der Studienstufe der Gesamtschule 

Gelsenkirchen. 

Gelsenkirchen : Gesamtschule, 1973 






Summary 

CZISCHKE, Jürgen ; DICK, Georg ; HILDEBRECHT, Horst ; HUMBERT, Ludger ; UEDING, Werner ; WALLOS, 

Klaus ; LANDESINSTITUT FÜR SCHULE UND WEITERBILDUNG (Hrsg.): 

Von Stiften und Mäusen. 

1. Aufl. 

Bönen : DruckVerlag Kettler GmbH, 1999. – 

ISBN 3–8165–4165–8 

DIJKSTRA, Edsger W.: 

Go To Statement Considered Harmful. 

In: Comm. ACM 

11 (1968), March, Nr. 3, S. 147–148. – 

http://www.acm.org/classics/oct95/ 

FLOYD, Christiane ; ZÜLLIGHOVEN, Heinz ; BUDDE, Reinhard ; KEIL-SLAWIK, Reinhard: 

Software Development and Reality Construction. 

Berlin : Springer, 1992. – 

ISBN 3–54054349–X 

GI: 

Empfehlung der Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. für ein Gesamtkonzept zur informatischen Bildung an 

allgemein bildenden Schulen. 

In: Informatik Spektrum 

23 (2000), Dezember, Nr. 6, S. 378–382. – 

http: 

//www.gi-ev.de/fileadmin/redaktion/empfehlungen/gesamtkonzept_26_9_2000.pdf – 

geprüft: 6. Dezember 2005 auch veröffentlicht als Beilage in LOG IN 20 (2000) Heft 2, S. I-VII. – 

ISSN 0170–6012 

GI: 

Empfehlungen der GI für Informatik-Studium, -Ausbildung, -Fortbildung und -Weiterbildung. 






Summary 

Februar 2003. – 

GI – Gesellschaft für Informatik e. V. 

http://www.gi-ev.de/service/publikationen/empfehlungen/ – geprüft: 3. Dezember 2005 

HUBWIESER, Peter ; BROY, Manfred ; BRAUER, Wilfried: 

A new approach to teaching technologies: shifting emphasis from technology to information. 

In: PASSEY, Don (Hrsg.) ; SAMWAYS, Brain (Hrsg.): Information Technology – Supporting change through 

teacher education. 

London : Chapman & Hall, 1997, S. 115–121 

HUMBERT, Ludger: 

Didaktik der Informatik – mit praxiserprobtem Unterrichtsmaterial. 

Wiesbaden : B.G. Teubner Verlag, September 2005 

(Leitfäden der Informatik). – 

http://humbert.in.hagen.de/ddi/ – geprüft: 3. August 2005. – 

ISBN 3–8351–0038–6 

HUMBERT, Ludger ; PUHLMANN, Hermann: 

Essential Ingredients of Literacy in Informatics. 

In: [Magenheim and Schubert 2004], S. 65–76. – 

ISBN 3–88579–435–7 

HUMBERT, Ludger ; PUHLMANN, Hermann: 

Essential Ingredients of Literacy in Informatic. 

In: [WCC 2005], . – 

Documents/445.pdf. – 

ISBN 1–920–01711–9 

KLAFKI, Wolfgang: 

Grundzüge eines neuen Allgemeinbildungskonzepts. Im Zentrum: Epochaltypische Schlüsselprobleme. 






Summary 

In: Neue Studien zur Bildungstheorie und Didaktik: Zeitgemäße Allgemeinbildung und kritisch-konstruktive 

Didaktik. 

Weinheim, Basel : Beltz Verlag, 1991, S. 43ff 

KMK (Hrsg.): 

Einheitliche Prüfungsanforderungen in der Abiturprüfung „Informatik“. 

Bonn : KMK, 2004. – 

KMK – Ständige Konferenz der Kultusminister der Länder in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland 

http://www.kmk.org/doc/beschl/EPA-Informatik.pdf – geprüft: 5. Dezember 2005 

KNUTH, Donald E.: 

Sorting and Searching. 

2. Aufl. 

Bonn : Addison Wesley, 1973 

MAGENHEIM, Johannes (Hrsg.) ; SCHUBERT, Sigrid (Hrsg.) ; Dagstuhl-Seminar of the German Informatics 

Society (GI) 19.–24. September 2004 (Veranst.): 

Informatics and Student Assessment. Concepts of Empirical Research and Standardisation of Measurement 

in the Area of Didactics of Informatics. 

Bd. 1. 

Bonn : Köllen Druck+Verlag GmbH, September 2004 

(GI-Edition – Lecture Notes in Informatics (LNI) – Seminars S-1). – 

ISBN 3–88579–435–7 

MSWWF (Hrsg.): 

Richtlinien und Lehrpläne für die Sekundarstufe II – Gymnasium/Gesamtschule in Nordrhein-Westfalen – 

Informatik. 

1. Aufl. 

Frechen : Ritterbach Verlag, Juni 1999 

(Schriftenreihe Schule in NRW 4725). – 






Summary 

MSWWF (Ministerium für Schule und Weiterbildung, Wissenschaft und Forschung des Landes 

Nordrhein-Westfalen) 

MULDER, Fred ; WEERT, Tom J.: 

IFIP/UNESCO Informatics Curriculum Framework 2000 – Building effective higher Education Informatics 

Curricula in a Situation of Change. 

Paris : UNESCO, 2000. – 

IFIP/WG3.2, ICF–2000 http://poe.netlab.csc.villanova.edu/ifip32/ICF2000.htm – geprüft: 

8. Oktober 2002 

NIEVERGELT, Jürg: 

Was ist Informatik-Didaktik? 

Oldenburg : Universität, 1991. – 

Sonderdruck 4. Fachtagung „Informatik und Schule“, Oldenburg, 7. bis 9. Oktober 1991 

PUHLMANN, Hermann: 

Exploring Test Items in the PISA-Style for Informatics. 

In: [WCC 2005], S. Documents/110.pdf. – 

ISBN 1–920–01711–9 

SCHWILL, Andreas: 

Fundamental Ideas of Computer Science. 

In: EATCS-Bulletin 

(1994), Nr. 53, S. 274–295. – 

http://www.didaktik.cs.uni-potsdam.de/Forschung/Schriften/EATCS.pdf – last visited: 

5 th December 2005 

8 th IFIP World Conference on Computers in Education, 4–7 th July 2005, University of Stellenbosch. 

Cape Town, South Africa : Document Transformation Technologies cc, July 2005 

. – 






Summary 

ISBN 1–920–01711–9 

WEERT, Tom J. ; BOSLER, Ulrich ; GUBO, Sam ; TAYLOR, Harriet ; ABAS, Zoraini W. ; DUCHÁTEAU, Charles ; 

MOREL, Raymond ; WAKER, Peter ; IFIP (Hrsg.) ; UNESCO (Hrsg.): 

Informatics for secondary education: a curriculum for schools. 

Paris : UNESCO, 1994. – 

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0009/000973/097323e.pdf : Produced by working party of 

the IFIP under auspices of UNESCO. Paris 

WEERT, Tom J. ; BÜTTNER, Yvonne ; FULFORD, Catherine ; KENDALL, Mike ; DUCHÁTEAU, Charles ; 

HOGENBIRK, Pieter ; MOREL, Raymond ; IFIP (Hrsg.) ; UNESCO (Hrsg.): 

Information and Communication Technology in Secondary Education – A Curriculum for Schools. 

Original 1994. 

Paris : UNESCO, November 2000. – 

http://wwwedu.ge.ch/cptic/prospective/projets/unesco/en/curriculum2000.pdf : 

Produced by working party of the IFIP under auspices of UNESCO. Paris 

WIRTH, Niklaus: 

Program Development by Stepwise Refinement. 

In: Comm. ACM 

14 (1971), April, Nr. 4, S. 221–227

Elements of German Informatics Curricula

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