RUI:Empowering K-5 Teachers in Southern Oregon Through Computational Thinking

Southern Oregon University, Ashland OR

Investigators

Abstract

The United States does not adequately prepare students underrepresented in computing -- especially females; racial, ethnic, and linguistic minorities; and low-income students -- to meet college requirements in computer science (CS). Southern Oregon, in particular, has significant interest in offering CS educational opportunities to its PK-12 students but is still currently developing the infrastructure to support implementation, amidst a student population becoming more diverse in terms of race, ethnicity, and languages spoken. This project, focused on integrating computational thinking (CT) into the K-5 instruction of general elementary and elementary bilingual teachers, will grow the early collaboration efforts initially started in 2015 into a formalized networked improvement community (NIC) in southern Oregon. This NIC would include Southern Oregon University (SOU), Ashland School District, Phoenix-Talent School District, and the American Institutes for Research (AIR). Over two years, this project aims to do the following: (a) move from initial collaboration to a fully-formed NIC that meets regularly and engages in three cycles of improvement; (b) pilot a summer institute that supports its first cohort of elementary teachers; (c) co-create lesson plans that integrate CT into elementary subjects; (d) build prototype instructional materials that districts can use to engage elementary teachers, whether they are early adopters of CT or reticent to implement. This research presents an innovative approach to CT instruction and PD that could influence the pathway to CS for elementary students. The education division at SOU will sustain the NIC's work by implementing CT training into the STEM methodology class that is required for all elementary preservice teachers and including CT training in ongoing summer institutes for inservice teachers. In addition, the project's broad dissemination plan would reach practitioners and scholars throughout the nation in computer science and elementary education, thus extending the study's findings beyond southern Oregon. This project is supported by the Computer Science for All: Researcher-Practitioner Partnerships program. The research questions center around how systems, structures, and professional development (PD) can be constructed to facilitate elementary and bilingual elementary teachers' knowledge of and confidence in CT instruction. The research will investigate how CT PD and CT instructional activities can engage students from low-income, Latinx and linguistically diverse groups, and enable teachers to be more willing to move from CT concepts to integrating CS using technological devices. The research will examine how incorporating language arts and math in CT instruction could increase the ability and confidence of elementary teachers - general and bilingual - in both CT and CS. Furthermore, the project will investigate how CT PD could support teachers in actively engaging students from groups that are underrepresented in computing. Using a mixed methods approach, the project will collect and analyze data from surveys, observations, and interviews. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.