Advancing Computational Thinking for Teacher Education in Central California

California State University-Fresno Foundation, Fresno CA

Investigators

Abstract

This project aims to serve the national need of preparing computing-capable teachers for high-need school districts. To achieve this goal, the project aims to build a sustainable national model for preparing K-12 teachers who are skilled in computational thinking. The project will give scholarships to sixty individuals who have a four-year STEM degree so they can complete a one-year teacher certification program. To help broaden participation, the project will include efforts to recruit Scholars from diverse backgrounds, including those that are underrepresented in computer science. The project will design new courses to help the Scholars gain computational thinking and computer programming skills, which in turn will help them teach these skills to their students. During their first two years of teaching, the Scholars will receive financial and other supports to enhance their success and retention as teachers. The project's teacher preparation curricula, advisory activities, and two years of scholar induction support are designed to equip the Scholars with the skills they need to make a positive impact in high-need school districts. Over the five years of the project, the project's Scholars are expected to directly impact at least 7,000 high school students, many of whom are from less resourced socioeconomic backgrounds. This project will be carried out at California State University - Fresno, a Hispanic Serving Institution and an Asian American & Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution. The project includes a partnership with three local high-need Unified School Districts (Fresno, Sanger, and Central). The project's major components include: (1) Pedagogical preparation integrating situated practice, cultural competencies, transdisciplinary avocations, and computational thinking; (2) Professional development of future teachers through workshops and one-on-one meetings with discipline-specific advisors; and (3) Development of a community of practice during the initial teaching years. The project aims to recruit five cohorts of twelve STEM post-baccalaureate Scholars annually, preparing a total of sixty new STEM teachers over five years. The project's Scholars are expected to complete courses in programming concepts, algorithmic thinking, and transdisciplinary applications of computational thinking. These courses align with the new and emerging standards for computer science teacher education and the Next Generation Science Standards crosscutting concepts. The interdisciplinary investigator and researcher team aims to widely disseminate the project's research findings, including to regional non-profit educational institutions and national computing alliances. This Track 1: Scholarships and Stipends project is supported through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program. The Noyce Program supports talented STEM undergraduate majors and professionals to become effective K-12 STEM teachers and experienced, exemplary K-12 STEM teachers to become STEM master teachers in high-need school districts. It also supports research on the persistence, retention, and effectiveness of K-12 STEM teachers in high-need school districts. 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.