TY - GEN
T1 - How Do We Do CS on Top of Everything Else? A Coaching Cycle Approach in Elementary School
AU - Pozos, Rose K.
AU - Denner, Jill
AU - Asamoto, Erin
AU - Green, Emily
AU - Severance, Samuel
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 IEEE.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - A key strategy for bringing computer science (CS) education to all students is the integration of computational thinking (CT) into core curriculum in elementary school. But teachers want to know how they can do this on top of their existing priorities. In this paper, we describe how our research-practice partnership is working to motivate, prepare, and support an elementary school to integrate equitable and inclusive computer science into core curriculum. Data were collected from teachers at a K-5 school where 65 % of students are Hispanic or Latinx, 46% are English Learners, and 65 % are eligible for free or reduced lunch. Data included semi-structured interviews, educators' written reflections, and observations of classroom implementation and professional development. The findings show how the school is building buy-in and capacity among teachers by using a coaching cycle led by a Teacher on Special Assignment. The cycle of preparation, implementation, and reflection demystifies CS by helping teachers design, test, and revise coherent lesson sequences that integrate CT into their lessons. Contrasting case studies are used to illustrate what teachers learned from the cycle, including the teachers' reasons for the integration, adaptations they made to promote equity, what the teachers noticed about their students engaging in CT, and their next steps. We discuss the strengths and the limitations of this approach to bringing CS for All.
AB - A key strategy for bringing computer science (CS) education to all students is the integration of computational thinking (CT) into core curriculum in elementary school. But teachers want to know how they can do this on top of their existing priorities. In this paper, we describe how our research-practice partnership is working to motivate, prepare, and support an elementary school to integrate equitable and inclusive computer science into core curriculum. Data were collected from teachers at a K-5 school where 65 % of students are Hispanic or Latinx, 46% are English Learners, and 65 % are eligible for free or reduced lunch. Data included semi-structured interviews, educators' written reflections, and observations of classroom implementation and professional development. The findings show how the school is building buy-in and capacity among teachers by using a coaching cycle led by a Teacher on Special Assignment. The cycle of preparation, implementation, and reflection demystifies CS by helping teachers design, test, and revise coherent lesson sequences that integrate CT into their lessons. Contrasting case studies are used to illustrate what teachers learned from the cycle, including the teachers' reasons for the integration, adaptations they made to promote equity, what the teachers noticed about their students engaging in CT, and their next steps. We discuss the strengths and the limitations of this approach to bringing CS for All.
KW - computational thinking
KW - elementary school
KW - equity and inclusion
KW - teacher professional development
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85123593065&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85123593065&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/RESPECT51740.2021.9620555
DO - 10.1109/RESPECT51740.2021.9620555
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85123593065
T3 - 2021 Research on Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology, RESPECT 2021 - Conference Proceedings
BT - 2021 Research on Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology, RESPECT 2021 - Conference Proceedings
A2 - Gardner-McCune, Christina
A2 - Grady, Siobahn Day
A2 - Jimenez, Yerika
A2 - Ryoo, Jean J.
A2 - Santo, Rafi
A2 - Payton, Jamie
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 2021 Research on Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology, RESPECT 2021
Y2 - 23 May 2021 through 27 May 2021
ER -