Leveraging Multilingualism to Support Computer Science Education through Translanguaging Pedagogies

技术专长对我们的国家经济和安全至关重要，是所有公民都需要的知识，才能有意义地参与我们的数字时代。然而，计算机科学教育在包括妇女、少数群体、残疾人和计算机领域的低收入人群方面未能取得进展。作为回应，许多州和联邦机构加入了一项名为CS for All的努力，以确保所有K-12学生都有机会学习计算机科学概念。在纽约市，该市教育部(DOE)已承诺向所有学校提供计算机科学学习机会。该学区面临的一个障碍是如何最好地向正在学习英语的学生教授计算机科学。这个项目使用一种名为跨语言的方法，是城市教育工作者、计算机科学教育研究人员以及语言和扫盲研究人员之间的合作伙伴关系。语言转换是一种方法，它允许教师根据孩子们带来的任何语言技能来量身定做教学。有理由怀疑，多语言儿童学习多种语言的一些技能可能也有助于他们学习计算机编程。该项目将探索这种情况是否属实，并将为双语教育工作者开发和测试将计算机科学概念纳入他们的教学中的方法。该项目开始了纽约大学、纽约市立大学和纽约市三所公立中学之间的研究-实践合作伙伴关系，这些中学主要服务于低收入拉丁裔/a学生，其中许多人正在成为双语学生。该项目围绕以设计为基础的实施研究方法，强调共享问题定义、教育工作者和研究人员之间的共同设计、有利于实地推广的干预措施测试，以及提高合作伙伴创造可持续变化的能力。智力方面的优势包括解决三个研究问题：学生如何、何时以及为什么在学习计算思维的过程中转换语言？教师如何通过基于跨语言教学和识字编程实践的课程设计和适应方法来支持和利用学生在计算机科学教育中的跨语言学习？而且，学生的跨语言练习是否与计算思维的学习过程或结果有关？研究方法是三次迭代，以设计为基础的研究性学习，涉及科学、英语和语言艺术课程的学生，主要使用定性数据来源，包括设计叙事分析、课堂观察、访谈和焦点小组。该项目更广泛的影响包括将扫盲教育和计算机科学教育的研究联系起来，这两者以前没有太多交叉；在纽约市能源部内进行能力建设，这将有助于指导纽约市为所有人推出CS；以及创造方法来支持新出现的双语者，这些人不依赖于说特定语言的人的固定课程，而是依赖于专业发展，帮助教师创建和调整课程，以支持任何语言背景的学生。该项目将开发教师专业发展工具包草案，利用跨语言教学法将计算思维主题整合到中学年级。这个工具包将在纽约市和全国范围内提供。

Expertise in technology is critical to our national economy and security, and is knowledge that all citizens need to meaningfully participate in our digital age. However, computer science education has failed to make progress at including women, minorities, people with disabilities, and people of low income in computing fields. In response, many states and federal agencies have joined an effort called CS for All to ensure all K-12 students have a chance to learn computer science concepts. In New York City, the city's Department of Education (DOE) has committed to rolling out computer science learning opportunities to all schools. One barrier the district faces is how best to teach computer science to students who are learning English. Using an approach called translanguaging, this project is a partnership between city educators, researchers in computer science education, and researchers in language and literacy. Translanguaging is an approach that allows teachers to tailor their teaching to whatever language skills children bring to the table. There are reasons to suspect that some of the skills multilingual kids use to learn multiple languages may also be useful in helping them learn to program computers. This project will explore whether that is the case, and will develop and test approaches for bilingual educators to incorporate computer science concepts in their teaching.This project begins a research-practice partnership between New York University, the City University of New York, and three NYC public middle schools serving predominantly low-income Latino/a students, many of whom are becoming bilingual. The project is structured around a design-based implementation research approach, which emphasizes shared problem definition, co-design between educators and researchers, field-based scaling friendly testing of interventions, and increasing capacity for partners to create sustainable change. The intellectual merit includes addressing three research questions: How, when and why do students translanguage as they learn computational thinking? How can teachers support and leverage students' translanguaging in computer science education through curricular design and adaptation approaches based on translanguaging pedagogy and literate programming practices? And, are students' translanguaging practices linked to learning processes or outcomes in computational thinking? The research methodology is a three iteration, design-based research study involving students in Science and English and Language Arts courses using primarily qualitative data sources including analysis of design narratives, classroom observation, and interviews and focus groups. The broader impacts of the project include linking research in literacy education and computer science education, which have not intersected much before; capacity building within the NYC DOE which will help guide New York City's rollout of CS for All; and creating ways to support emergent bilinguals that do not rely on fixed curricula for speakers of particular languages, but rather on professional development that helps teachers create and adapt curricula to support students whatever their language backgrounds. The project will develop a draft toolkit for teacher professional development which leverages translanguaging pedagogy for integration of computational thinking topics in the middle grades. This toolkit will be available both in NYC and nationwide.