Workshop to Develop an Interdisciplinary Framework for Integrating Computational Thinking in K-12 Science, Mathematics, Technology, and Engineering Education; Oct. 2016-Waltham, MA

Education Development Center, Waltham MA

Investigators

Abstract

The STEM+Computing (STEM+C) program seeks to advance applied research on the integration of computing and computational thinking in elementary, middle, and high school science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, and advance and broaden participation in computing and computationally-intensive fields. Computational thinking has traditionally been defined in the context of the discipline of computer science; however, as the other STEM fields have become more computational, computational thinking has emerged as a fundamental skill essential for students across a wide range of other STEM disciplines, such as chemistry, biochemistry, biophysics, geoscience, molecular biology, genetics, genomics, ecology, evolution, anatomy, neuroscience, applied mathematics, statistics, and modeling, simulation, and visualization, as well as some non-STEM fields (criminal justice, music, film, and animation). Given the scarcity of research defining computational thinking in the other STEM disciplines, and the equal scarcity of research on how to integrate computational thinking in the early grades through high school, there is an urgent need to bring together education researchers, K-12 practitioners, and disciplinary scientists to collaborate on the development of an evidence-based framework for defining computational thinking from an interdisciplinary perspective. A four and half day workshop will be held at the Education Development Center in Waltham, Massachusetts for participants who are studying the integration of computing and computational thinking in STEM education, to collaborate on (1) defining the specific characteristics of computational thinking as it occurs within disciplinary learning across the elementary through high school grade bands, (2) determine the appropriate grade-specific assessments of computational thinking to measure student learning, and (3) make recommendations for integrating computational thinking in pre-service teacher education. The workshop will be evaluated by an external evaluator who will observe workshop activities, conduct interviews with workshop participants and project staff, and provide a final, summative analysis of the workshop's findings to assess whether project goals and objectives have been fully implemented. The workshop will contribute unique findings on the range of pedagogies and competencies needed to effectively teach and learn interdisciplinary computational thinking in K-12, and will advance future research on learning at the intersection of computing and the other STEM disciplines, a core objective of the STEM+Computing (STEM+C) program. This STEM+C workshop studying interdisciplinary computational thinking is an 18-month effort that will be guided by a planning committee comprised of the Principal Investigators and project staff from the Education Development Center. Workshop participants will include education researchers, K-12 practitioners, disciplinary scientists, and Principal Investigators from NSF's STEM+C, ITEST, and other programs, and national thought leaders in education and computing. Participants will meet in specific grade bands (K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12), in groups organized by subject matter, and in mixed groups, to analyze the assumptions and constructs that currently undergird computational thinking in the field and in their research, and seek to identify respective skills and competencies students will need in computational thinking for STEM fields, and appropriate teacher pedagogy supporting such skills development. The project team and participants will synthesize workshop discussions and findings, and collaborate on the development of an interdisciplinary theoretical framework that will (a) describe computational thinking from an interdisciplinary perspective to progress in grade bands across the STEM curriculum, (b) convey what it means for students to think computationally within and across the STEM fields, (c) articulate grade-band recommendations for assessing students' interdisciplinary computational thinking, and (d) make recommendations for integrating computational thinking in pre-service teacher education and teacher professional development, (e) identify areas for future research on interdisciplinary computational thinking, (f) produce a landscape study of existing computational thinking assessments with a gap analysis to determine alignment of existing assessments with the workshop's framework; and (f) create working groups for disseminating workshop findings via conference papers, peer reviewed journal articles, and presentations to national STEM-education and computing stakeholders, including policymakers in states implementing computer science standards in K-12. A summative evaluation will be conducted on the workshop and its results, including field-wide assessment and peer review of the framework. The workshop will advance core objectives of the STEM+C program to evolve evidence-based approaches to the integration of computing and computational thinking in K-12 teaching and learning; innovation of approaches to assessing grade-specific computational thinking; and new teacher pedagogy integrating computational thinking.