CV

Education

Education
1997 – 2003

Ph.D., School of Education, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
Title of Doctoral dissertation: Teaching “Computational Models” in high schools
Supervisors: The late Prof. Gideon Zwas, Prof. Judith Gal-Ezer and Prof. Dina Tirosh
1989 – 1991

M.Sc. in Computer Science, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology
Title of thesis: Incompleteness and the theory of computer science
Supervisor: Prof. Shai Ben-David
1986 – 1989  B.A in Computer Science, Summa cum Laude, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology 

Professional education-related experience

Professional experience
2009 - current Senior Scientist, Department of Science Teaching, Weizmann Institute of Science
2006 – 2009 Post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Science Teaching, Weizmann Institute of Science (Mentor: Prof. Mordechai Ben-Ari)
2005 Post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Education in Technology and Science, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology (Mentor: Prof. Orit Hazzan)
1994 – 2006

The Open University of Israel

1994 – 2006: Course coordinator and curricular developer, Computer Science Department

1997 – 2001: Instructor, the Unit for In-service Teachers

1995 – 1998: Chair of the Computational Models high school curricular development team, Computer Science Department 

1994: Instructor, Computer Science Department

1994: Instructor, the Center of Computer Studies in Jerusalem
2003, 2008 Israel National Center for Computer Science Teachers, Haifa: Instructor
1997, 2000-2006

Tel-Aviv University

2005 – 2006: Chief developer, the Fundamentals of Computer Science high school curricular development team, Department of Science Teaching, School of Education

2000 – 2005: Instructor, Department of Science Teaching, School of Education

1997: Teaching assistant, School of Mathematical Sciences
1994 – 1996

Hadassah College, Jerusalem, Israel

1996: Lecturer, Computer Science Department

1994 – 1996: Lecturer, Department of Software Engineering, School of Practical Engineering
1994 – 1995

Israel Arts and Science Academy, Jerusalem, Israel

1995: Coordinator of computer science studies

1994 – 1995: Computer science teacher (10th- 12th grade)
1987 – 1991

Technion, Israel Institute of Technology

1989 – 1991: Teaching assistant, Faculty of Computer Science

1988 – 1989: Teaching assistant, Faculty of Mathematics

1987 – 1988: Instructor, The program for promoting high school students towards undergraduate studies in mathematics, science and technology

Industrial experience

Industrial experience
1993 – 1994 Malam Systems, Jerusalem, Israel: Programmer in the Imaging Group
1991 – 1993 IBM Research Center, Haifa, Israel: Research fellow in the Testing and Verification Group

Curricular Development

  • Computer Science Concepts in Scratch for junior high schools (Weizmann Institute of Science)
  • Visual interactive tools for the course Automata and Formal Languages (the Open University of Israel)
  • Fundamentals of Computer Science for high schools in an object-oriented paradigm (Tel-Aviv University)
  • Computational Models for high schools (The Open University of Israel)

Committees

  • Member of the Award Committee of the 2019 Best Practices in Education Award (awarded by Informatics Europe)
  • Member of the Award Committee of the 2018 Best Practices in Education Award (awarded by Informatics Europe)
  • 2012 – 2021: Member of the Israeli Ministry of Education’s computer science committee
  • 2007 – 2008: Member of the CSTA (Computer Science Teachers Association) task force on computer science teacher certification
  • 2006 – 2009: Co-chair of the AREE (Annals of Research on Engineering Education) committee of ACM SIGCSE

Conference Committees

  • Co-chair of the program committee of the 15th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education (WiPSCE 2020), Darmstadt, Germany (online)
  • Senior member of the senior program committee of the 16th International Computing Education Research conference (ICER 2020), online conference
  • Member of the program committee of the 14th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education (WiPSCE 2019), Glasgow, Scotland, UK
  • Senior member of the senior program committee of the 15th International Computing Education Research conference (ICER 2019), Toronto, Canada
  • Associate Program Chair, 24th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE 2019), Abardeen, Scotland
  • Member of the program committee of the 2nd International Conference on Computational Thinking Education (CTE2019), Hong Kong
  • Member of the program committee of the 13th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education (WiPSCE 2018), Potsdam, Germany
  • Senior member of the senior program committee of the 14th International Computing Education Research conference (ICER 2018), Espoo, Finland
  • Co-Program Chair, 23rd Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE 2018), Larnaka, Cyprus
  • Member of the program committee of the 1st International Conference on Computational Thinking Education (CTE2018), Hong Kong
  • Member of the program committee of the 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education (WiPSCE 2017), Nijmegen, The Netherlands
  • Member of the program committee of the 9th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education (WiPSCE 2016), Münster, Germany
  • Member of the program committee of the 10th International Computing Education Research conference (ICER 2016), Melbourne, Australia
  • Member of the program committee of the 10th International Computing Education Research conference (ICER 2015), Omaha, Nebraska, USA
  • Member of the program committee of the 9th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education (WiPSCE 2014), Berlin, Germany
  • Member of the program committee of the 10th International Computing Education Research conference (ICER 2014), Glasgow, Scotland, UK
  • Member of the program committee of the 8th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education (WiPSCE 2013), Aarhus, Denmark
  • Member of the program committee of the 9th International Computing Education Research conference (ICER 2013), San-Diego, USA
  • Member of the program committee of the 7th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education (WiPSCE 2012), Hamburg, Germany
  • Member of the committee of the 17th Annual SIGCSE Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, (ITiCSE12), Haifa, Israel
  • Member of the committee of the 15th Annual SIGCSE Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, (ITiCSE10), Ankara, Turkey

Other Aappointments

other appointments
2018 - 2019 Associate Editor, member of the Editorial Board of the IEEE journal Transactions on Education
2015 - 2018 Member of the Editorial Board of the ACM Inroads magazine
2013 - current Member of the Editorial Board of the ACM journal Transactions on Computing Education
2009 - 2019 Columnist:  Computing in schools – a featured column published every 6 months. ACM Inroads Magazine

Invited Talks

  • Organizing the CS curriculum around CS habits of mind: The cases of reduction, abstraction, and proofs. Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, Adam Mickiewicz University. November 2017, Poznan, Poland.
  • On the Nature of Computer Science. Primary-School Teachers Seminar, Adam Mickiewicz University. November 2017, Poznan, Poland.
  • K-12 Computer Science Education: Why, What, When, How? Guiding Principles and Open Questions. Rhode Island Department of Education, Fifth Annual Conference, September 2016, Providence, RI, USA.
  • Keynote speaker at the 10th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education (WiPSCE 2015), 2015, London, UK.

Awards

  • Recipient of the FIE (Frontiers in Education) 2003 New Faculty Fellowship award

Reviews for Refereed Publications

  • Referee for the following international conferences:
    • Annual Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE): 2007-2017
    • Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE): 2006-2017
    • ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE): 2005-2007
  • Referee of the special edition of the journal Computer Science Education on doctoral research (Sep. 2005)
  • Referee of numerous papers for the journals Computer Science Education (CSE), ACM Transactions on Computing Education (TOCE), ACM Inroads, IEEE Transactions on Education (TOE), Instructional Science, Journal of Science Education and Technology (JOST), SpringerPlus, the Journal of the ACM and the Communications of the ACM (CACM), Journal of Visual Languages and Sentient Systems (VLSS)

Grants

other appointments
2018 - 2021 Teaching computer science at the elementary school level. The Israel Science Foundation (ISF), a 3-year grant, 160,000 NIS (about 50,000$) per year
2013 - 2016 Teaching abstraction in computer science to young students. The Israel Science Foundation (ISF), 3-year grant, 115,000 NIS (about 31,000$) per year

Judge in Contests

  • Computer Science Project Contest, a Look into the Future: the Annual Project Exhibition, School of Computer Science, the Academic College of Tel-Aviv-Yaffo, 2014-2017

Courses Taught

  • Introduction to science education
  • Teaching computer science ideas and concepts through Scratch – for in-service teachers
  • Selected topics in algorithms
  • Computer science curricula
  • Algorithm design and analysis considerations
  • Algorithm correctness and efficiency considerations
  • Computer science teaching workshop
  • Teaching computational models to high school students – for leading teachers
  • Didactics of computational models – for in-service teachers
  • Extended introduction to computer science
  • Data structures
  • Algorithmics – the foundations of computer science
  • Unix  – for practical engineering students
  • C++ – for practical engineering students
  • Proving correctness of programs
  • Logic for computer science 2
  • Logic for computer science 1 
  • Linear Algebra 1