Teaching Parallel Programming in Basic Education: A Systematic Literature Review, Bibliometric Analysis, and Agenda for Future Studies

• Felipe Pereira Perez Centro Universitário da Grande Dourados
• Wilk Oliveira Tampere University
• Anderson Corrêa de Lima Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul
• Amaury Antônio de Castro Junior Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0915-6613
• Graziela Araújo Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/educomp.2023.228051

Abstract

In the last decade, especially due to the increase in computational power, and therefore the urgency of parallel programming, there was a need for trained professionals to develop software that use all the parallel potential of machines. With this, the teaching of parallel programming, for a long time exclusive to undergraduate courses, opened up space for it to be worked on in Basic Education as well. However, before starting to propose specific approaches for teaching parallel programming in Basic Education, it is necessary to understand the state of the art in this field. To face this challenge, a Systematic Literature Review was carried out with the objective of i) identifying which approaches have been used in teaching parallel programming in Basic Education; ii) detect which programming languages are used; iii) raise which concepts are addressed; iv) point out in which teaching phases these approaches are applied; and v) identify how the students' learning experience has been. As a result, it is possible to identify that i) the number of publications is still limited; ii) most studies are conducted in short-term workshops; iii) most studies are conducted only in the United States of America; iv) most studies use traditional teaching approaches; v) there is no consensus regarding the use of programming languages in teaching parallel programming; vi) most studies were conducted in high school; and vii) overall, the students' experience was positive. The results contribute especially to the area of Computing Education, opening space for the development of new approaches for teaching parallel programming.

Keywords: Computer Education, Parallel Programming, Literature review, Research Schedule

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