ISSEP 2026 Programme

Tallinn University, Estonia | 20–23 September 2026

Sunday, 20 September 2026

Doctoral Consortium

Time	Programme	Details
11:00–11:30	Welcome and orientation	Consortium chair: Valentina Dagienė
11:30–13:00	Doctoral Consortium Session 1	Mentoring workshop / research methods clinic
13:00–13:30	Lunch	Refreshments
13:30–15:00	Doctoral Consortium Session 2	Mentoring workshop / research methods clinic
15:00–15:15	Closing	Consortium wrap-up
Evening	Optional informal welcome	Tavern Kochi Aidad

Monday, 21 September 2026

Main Conference — Day 1: opening, keynote, papers and workshops.

Time	Programme	Details
08:30–09:15	Registration	Registration desk in the lobby of the Astra building, Narva maantee 29
09:15–09:30	Official welcome	Welcome by the Rector of Tallinn University
09:30–10:30	Keynote talk	Maria Kütt, Chief HR Officer of Threod Systems: What If We Are Preparing Students for Jobs That Won’t Exist? Rethinking Human Capability in the Age of AI
10:30–11:00	Coffee break	Refreshments and networking
11:00–12:30	Paper Session 1: Physical vs virtual computing	Chair / room: TBC How Teachers Teach Hardware: A Study of Instructional Methods and Practices in K-12 Computing Education Daniel Unro and Andreas Dengel Physical vs. Virtual: Comparing Real-World and Simulated Micro:Bit Environments in Lower Secondary Computer Science Ersin Korkmaz, Thomas Ströhle, Martin Kandlhofer and Philipp Zech Enhancing Cybersecurity Awareness in Vocational Education through Tabletop Exercises: A Multi-School Study Using the INJECT Platform Triin Muulmann and Ricardo Gregorio Lugo Exploring the Digital World: Informatics Learning Intervention for Children Aged 5 to 7 Tabea G. Langen and Nadine Bergner
12:30–14:00	Lunch	Mare atrium. Posters will be set up for Estonian teachers attending the workshops.
14:00–15:30	Workshop Slot A 90 minutes; up to four parallel workshops	A1 — “Hearing the Stars”: Is every Informatics teacher a STEAM teacher? (16 participants) Gabrielė Stupurienė and Anita Juškevičienė — Room: TBC A2 — The IMPACT+ Game: Designing Hybrid Learning Environments for Computational Thinking (16 participants) Bernadette Spieler, Janine Truetsch, Céline Scheier and Larissa Meyer-Baron — Room: TBC A3 — What do we mean by ‘Perspectives’ in Informatics Education? (20 participants) Jos Tolboom and Nataša Grgurina — Room: TBC A4 — From Digital to Tangible: Transforming Computational Thinking Tasks into Unplugged Learning Materials for Primary Education (20 participants) Marika Parviainen and Valentina Dagienė — Room: TBC
15:30–16:00	Coffee break	Refreshments and networking
16:00–17:00	Workshop Slot B 60 minutes; up to four parallel workshops	B1 — Iterative Design of Bebras-Inspired Educational Cards for Computational Thinking in School Education (20 participants) Lidia Feklistova, Marika Parviainen and Daranee Lehtonen — Room: TBC B2 — Hivobu, A Simple Formal Language With A Multi-Level Graphical Approach (20 participants) Jean-Philippe Pellet and Gabriel Parriaux — Room: TBC B3 — The Human Robot Advanced: Materials and scientific discussion on unplugged material for introductory programming (24 participants) Katharina Brugger and Corinna Mößlacher — Room: TBC
17:15–18:00	Steering Committee Meeting	Participants / room: TBC
18:00	Reception at Tallinn University	Mare atrium

Tuesday, 22 September 2026

Main Conference — Day 2: keynote, paper sessions, posters and conference banquet.

Time	Programme	Details
09:00–10:00	Keynote talk	Teaching to Think in Informatics Lessons by Genetic Socratic Method Illustrated by Discovering Hamming Codes Juraj Hromkovič and Regula Lacher, ETH Zürich
10:00–10:30	Coffee break and poster session	Refreshments and networking; poster session in parallel
10:30–12:00	Paper Session 2: Psychological aspects in informatics education	Chair / room: TBC “Left Alone to Implement Digital Education” — Teachers' Perceived Barriers and Support Needs Corinna Hörmann, Marina Unterweger, Sara Hinterplattner and Eva Schmidthaler Motivated but Overloaded: Cognitive and Motivational Trade-offs in Sandbox-Based Game-Based Learning Daniel Krosse and Alexander Best The Right Kind of Help: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Feedback Methods in Elementary-Level Visual Programming Ahana Ghosh, Liina Malva, Alkis Gotovos, Danial Hooshyar and Adish Singla Opening the Black Box: Concept-Oriented Learning in the Field of Computing Systems Milan Franke and Nadine Bergner
12:00–13:30	Lunch and poster session	Mare atrium; poster session in parallel
13:30–15:00	Paper Session 3: Gender differences	Chair / room: TBC Gender Differences in Bebras Challenge Performance Marina Lepp, Piret Luik and Valentina Dagienė COMATH: A Cross-National, Gender-Balanced Instrument for Assessing Computational Thinking Daranee Lehtonen, Esa Satomaa, Marika Parviainen and Valentina Dagiene Who Excels in Spreadsheet Tasks? Examining Gender and Grade-Level Differences Lidia Feklistova and Ljubov Jaanuska Regional Differences in Computational Thinking Skills: Analysing the 2025 Hungarian Bebras Initiative Results Bence Gaál and Zsuzsa Pluhár
15:00–15:30	Coffee break and poster session	Refreshments and networking; poster session in parallel
15:30–17:00	Paper Session 4: AI in informatics education	Chair / room: TBC Two-Layered AI Literacy in Schools: How Distributed Responsibilities Separate Use and Understanding Birgy Lorenz and Silver Püvi Stakeholders’ Perspectives on Incorporating AI in the Dutch Informatics Standards Sasja Westgeest, Jos Tolboom, Anco Peeters and Natasa Grgurina Programming to Learn Language Models Luca Chiodini and Matthias Hauswirth Before the Breadboard: Using AI to Scaffold Arduino Algorithm Design in Secondary Schools Diane Vassallo and Gabriella Govus
17:00–18:00	Buffer / free time	Travel, hotel break or optional local activity: TBC
18:30–21:00	Conference banquet	Venue, ticketing and accessibility information: TBC

Wednesday, 23 September 2026

Main Conference — final half-day: panel discussion, papers, awards and closing, followed by optional visits and tours.

Time	Programme	Details
09:00–10:00	Panel discussion	Innovation in informatics education in the AI era Moderator: Birgy Lorenz, TalTech Participants: Luca Chiodini, Matthias Hauswirth, Andreas Bollin, Diane Vassallo, Gabriella Govus and Jos Tolboom
10:00–10:30	Coffee break	Refreshments and networking; posters will be removed
10:30–12:00	Paper Session 5: Computational thinking and mental models	Chair: Daniel Crosse Dimension-Specific Differences in Computational Thinking across Grades 5–8 Greg Lee and Yi Ling Wu Computational Thinking and Mathematical Word Problem Solving in Primary School Marika Parviainen, Valentina Dagiene, Jake McMullen, Daranee Lehtonen and Jo Van Hoof Student Model Understanding by Shifting Perspective Pedagogy Jan Hendrik Krone and Josua Ginster Exploring High School Students' Mental Models in Quantum Cryptography: A Mixed-Methods Approach to Concept Inventory Development Daniel Krosse and Alexander Best
12:00–13:00	Lunch	Mare atrium
13:00–14:00	Paper Session 6	Chair: Corinna Hörmann From Content to Purpose: Rethinking School Informatics as General Education for All Andreas Bollin Investigating How Quizzes Shape Problem-Solving Strategies in Elementary Programming Nina Quach, Ahana Ghosh, Man Su, Liina Malva, Danial Hooshyar, Tomohiro Nagashima and Adish Singla When Awareness Is Not Enough: Teenagers’ Digital Practices and Implications for Computing Education Corinna Hörmann, Marina Unterweger, Eva Schmidthaler and Barbara Sabitzer
14:00–14:30	Awards, announcements and official closing	Best paper, poster and presentation awards; ISSEP 2027 handover; closing words
From 14:30	Optional school visits / Tallinn tours	Choice A: School visit to Pae Gümnaasium or Reaalkool Choice B: Guided tour of Tallinn’s medieval Old Town