Collaborative Research: Unpacking Computational Thinking for Elementary Teachers and Learners

协作研究：为小学教师和学习者解开计算思维

• 批准号: 2300323
• 负责人: Robin Jocius
• 金额: $ 44.36万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at Arlington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-06-01 至 2027-05-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2300323&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Unpacking; Computational; Thinking

The goal of this project is to investigate the integration of computational thinking (CT) into elementary school curricula by studying how teachers develop expertise in integrating CT activities that align with interdisciplinary standards and existing curricula. This project addresses the critical need for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) literacy by investigating effective models of professional development (PD) that improve STEM teaching and learning. Leveraging an asset-based approach, the project will provide opportunities to broaden participation in computer science education through building a community of practice for teachers and designing CT-infused curricula. To ensure that all teachers have the necessary support to participate in new pedagogical practices of increasing complexity, the project will utilize a collaborative teacher PD and mentorship structure in which teachers will work closely with peers and project team members to prepare, teach, and reflect upon lessons through multi-year participation. The research will document how teachers come to understand CT and take up these practices in their classrooms. The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of STEM by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects.Over four years, this project will directly impact 135 teachers in multi-year participation in professional development and approximately 12,000 students indirectly in their classrooms. This project will initially focus on schools in South Carolina, especially in rural districts. The project will be guided by three primary research questions: 1) How do preK-5 teachers integrate CT into their disciplinary teaching?; 2) What are the personal learning trajectories that teachers move through as they work towards CT integration?; 3) What are the barriers and accelerators for teachers’ implementation of CT-infused lessons? This project is grounded in the idea that incremental, sustainable, and substantial teacher learning comes when teachers are fully invested in the cycle of learning and have opportunities to build and strengthen their communities of practice. In reflective PD sessions held throughout the academic year and summer, teachers will explore, co-design, implement, and refine student learning activities that integrate CT into existing content area standards and curricula. The CT activities, which will include standards-based lesson plans, assessments, and supplemental resources, will offer both plugged and unplugged components, so that students and teachers have opportunities to understand the conceptual underpinnings of computational thinking with and without computers. A minimum of 120 lessons and related pedagogical materials mapped to core-content standards will be developed and made freely available to the public on the project website. Using a mixed methods approach, this study will document the trajectories through which elementary teachers move as they begin to integrate CT into disciplinary teaching, as well as barriers and accelerators faced as they integrate CT into disciplinary teaching. Quantitative survey methodologies and multimodal analysis of narrative interviews, classroom video, teacher reflections, and pedagogical artifacts will be used to analyze teachers’ sense making about CT over time and the uptake of new pedagogical approaches in their teaching. Ultimately, this study will produce a set of empirically-tested learning trajectories that can be used to support teachers in integrating CT into their classrooms. As a means of expanding the community of practice, sharing resources, and disseminating project findings to a nationwide audience, the project also incorporates a virtual PD component to support PD access to elementary school teachers from underrepresented and underserved schools across the United States.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.

该项目的目的是通过研究教师如何在整合与跨学科标准和现有课程相符的CT活动方面开发专业知识来研究计算思维（CT）与小学课程的整合。该项目通过调查改善STEM教学的有效模型（PD）来解决科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）素养的关键需求。利用基于资产的方法，该项目将通过为教师建立一个实践社区和设计注入CT的课程，为扩大计算机科学教育的参与提供机会。为了确保所有教师都有必要的支持，以参与日益复杂的新教学实践，该项目将利用协作的教师PD和心态结构，在该结构中，教师将与同龄人和项目团队成员紧密合作，通过多年参与来准备，教学和反思课程。该研究将记录教师如何理解CT并在教室中进行这些实践。 Discovery Research Prek-12计划（DRK-12）试图通过研究和开发创新资源，模型和工具来显着增强PreK-12学生和教师对STEM的学习和教学。 DRK-12计划中的项目基于STEM教育和先前的研发工作的基本研究，这些研究为拟议项目提供了理论和经验的理由。在四年中，该项目将直接影响135名在专业发展的多年参与的教师，并在课堂上大约有12,000名学生。该项目最初将重点关注南卡罗来纳州的学校，尤其是在农村地区。该项目将以三个主要的研究问题为指导：1）Prek-5教师如何将CT整合到他们的纪律教学中？ 2）教师在努力进行CT集成的过程中进行的个人学习轨迹是什么？ 3）教师实施CT的课程的障碍和加速器是什么？该项目的基础是，当教师全面投入学习周期并有机会建立和加强其实践社区时，就会出现渐进，可持续和实质性的教师学习。在整个学年和夏季举行的反思性PD会议中，教师将探索，共同设计，实施和完善学生学习活动，将CT集成到现有内容领域标准和课程中。 CT活动将包括基于标准的课程计划，评估和补充资源，将提供插入和插电的组件，以便学生和老师有机会了解使用和没有计算机的计算思维的概念基础。将开发并在项目网站上向公众免费提供映射到核心标准的120堂课和相关的教学材料。使用混合方法，本研究将记录基础教师开始将CT整合到纪律教学中的轨迹，以及将CT整合到学科教学中时所面临的障碍和加速器。定量调查方法和叙事访谈，课堂视频，教师反思和教学文物的多模式分析将用于分析教师随着时间的推移对CT的了解，并在其教学中采用了新的教学方法。最终，这项研究将产生一系列经验测试的学习轨迹，可用于支持教师将CT整合到课堂中。作为扩大实践社区，共享资源并将项目调查结果传播给全国受众的一种手段，该项目还结合了一个虚拟PD组件，以支持来自代表性不足和服务不足的学校的PD访问PD访问美国的教师。该奖项在整个美国的法定任务中反映了通过评估的宗教信仰，该奖项反映了该奖项的知识群体，并已被构成构成群体的依据。