Perspectives and Visions of Computer Science Education in Primary and Secondary (K-12) Schools

In view of the recent developments in many countries, for example in the USA or in the UK, it seems that computer science education (CSE) in primary or secondary schools (shortly K-12) would have reached a significant turning point, shifting its focus from ICT-oriented to rigorous computer science concepts. The goal of this special issue is to offer a publication platform for soundly based in-depth experiences that have been made around the world with concepts, approaches or initiatives that aim at supporting this shift. For this purpose, the paper format was kept as large as possible, enabling the authors to explain many facets of their concepts and experiences in detail. Regarding the structure of the papers, we had en-couraged the authors to lean on the Darmstadt Model, a category system that was developed to support the development, improvement, and investigation of K-12 CSE across regional or national boundaries. This model could serve as a unifying framework that might provide a proper structure for a well-founded critical discussion about the future of K-12 CSE. Curricu-lum designers or policy stakeholders, who have to decide, which approach an upcoming na-tional initiative should follow, could benefit from this discussion as well as researchers who are investigating K12 CSE in any regard. With this goal in mind, we have selected six exten