Research

Research interests

• The nature of programs
• Introductory programming, especially focusing on studying and experimenting in classes the explicit use of notional machine, patterns for selection and iteration, variables' roles, and program comprehension
• Constructivism in computing education
• Professional development for teachers
• K-12 computing education

National and international collaborations

• Group leader of WG5 “What we talk about when we talk about programs” at ACM ITiCSE 2022.
• Member of WG4 “Assessing How Pre-requisite Skills Affect Learning of Advanced Concepts“ at ACM ITiCSE 2020
• Member of WG2 “Fostering Program Comprehension in Novice Programmers - Learning Activities and Learning Trajectories” at ACM ITiCSE 2020.
• Among the founders of the ALaDDIn research group (ALaDDIn is the Lab for Didactics and Dissemination on Informatics). In 2011, 2017, and 2019 ALaDDIn was awarded by Google within its CS[4]HS program. In 2016 ALaDDIn was awarded the "Best Practices in Education" award by Informatics Europe.
• Member of Working Group on Education Research of Informatics Europe
• Member of the National Laboratory on Informatics and School within CINI

Program committees and editorial service

• ICER 2022 (18th ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research) - co-chair of lightning talks and posters track, member of program committee
• ITiCSE 2022 (27th ACM International Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education) - associate program chair
• SIGCSE TS 2022 (53th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education) - associate program chair
• Guest editor of Informatics in Education's special issue on abstraction, 2021.
• ICER 2021 (17th ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research) - co-chair of lightning talks and posters track, member of program committee
• ITiCSE 2021 (26th ACM International Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education) - associate program chair
• SIGCSE TS 2021 (52th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education) - associate program chair
• ICER 2020 (16th ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research) - member of program committee
• ITiCSE 2020 (25th ACM International Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education) - associate program chair
• SIGCSE TS 2020 (51th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education) - associate program chair
• ICER 2019 (15th ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research) - member of program committee
• ITiCSE 2019 (24th ACM International Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education) - associate program chair
• SIGCSE TS 2019 (50th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education) - associate program chair
• ISSEP 2018 (11th International Conference on Informatics in Schools) - member of program committee
• Reviewer for ICER, SIGCSE TS, ISSEP (conferences) and Computer Science Education and Informatics in Education (journals).