The Evaluation of a Model Spatial Thinking Curriculum for Building Computational Skills in Elementary Grades K-5

K-5年级建立计算技能的空间思维示范课程评估项目推进了STEM计算伙伴(STEM C)计划的目标，该计划旨在促进将计算思维和计算融入STEM教与学的新方法和基于证据的理解。该项目将解决在为小学儿童在未来几十年进入STEM劳动力做准备方面的一个重大挑战：发展视觉空间和计算技能，这是把关高中和大学STEM课程成功的基础。视觉空间技能，即与物体空间关系的视觉感知有关的技能，已被证明因性别而异，并可能受到社会经济因素的影响。通过制定在社会经济类别中有效的教学和评估策略，并特别适用于在关键年级水平上被发现在视觉空间能力方面落后的学生的子类别，该项目将应用教育公平理论来帮助儿童实现获得优质教育、资源和其他教育机会的平等机会。K-5年级计算技能培养模式空间思维课程评估项目的目标是反复开发和评估建立小学生早期计算技能的补充教学活动。该项目将通过提高儿童天生的空间思维能力来实现这一目标。在为期两年的时间内反复开发课程，将辅之以空间和计算思维发展和成就的对照小组研究。课程开发过程的形成性评估结论和对照小组研究的研究结果将被用来将活动提炼成一种形式，可以整合到合作学区的正式教学中，在全国范围内传播和评估，并从加利福尼亚州雷德兰兹大学的计划开始纳入在职和职前教师教育计划。一本包含课程的电子书将免费提供。

The Evaluation of a Model Spatial Thinking Curriculum for Building Computational Skills in Elementary Grades K-5 project advances objectives of the STEM+Computing Partnership (STEM+C) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the integration of Computational Thinking and computation into STEM teaching and learning. The project will address a significant challenge in preparing elementary-aged children to enter the STEM workforce in coming decades: developing visuospatial and computational skills that underlie success in gatekeeping high school and college STEM courses. Visuospatial skills, those related to visual perception of the spatial relationships of objects, have been documented to vary by gender and may be influenced by socioeconomic factors. By developing instructional and assessment strategies that are effective across socioeconomic categories and work particularly well for subcategories of students who have been found to lag behind in visuospatial abilities at key grade levels, this project will apply educational justice theory to help children achieve equal access to quality instruction, resources, and other educational opportunities. The goal of the Evaluation of a Model Spatial Thinking Curriculum for Building Computational Skills in Elementary Grades K-5 project is to iteratively develop and evaluate supplemental instructional activities that build early computational skills in elementary-aged children. The project will accomplish this goal by improving childrens' innate capacities for spatial thinking. Iterative development of the curriculum over a two-year period will be complemented with a comparison group study of spatial and Computational Thinking development and achievement. Formative evaluation conclusions from the curriculum development process and research findings from the comparison group study will be used to refine the activities into a format that can be integrated into formal instruction at a partnering school district, disseminated and evaluated nationally, and built into in-service and pre-service teacher education programs beginning with the program at the University of Redlands in California. An e-book containing the curriculum will be made freely available.