Developing board games and learning materials to support 5th grade students' connected learning around computational thinking and coding

国家正在寻找方法让更多的学生，特别是女孩，在学校学习计算机科学和计算思维（CS/CT）。目前的模式通常主要关注早期使用电脑的学生和教师作为主要的指导者。该项目提出了另一种模式，允许学校和地区对所有学生，特别是女孩实施CS/CT教育，将重点放在学校图书馆的“不插电”游戏中，作为CS/CT课程的基础。该项目的目标是迭代地共同设计、开发和试点教学材料和序列，这些材料和序列将使用棋盘游戏和编码将CS/CT深度整合到小学高年级的课堂中，以特别扩大参与，特别是女孩的参与。该方法的一个独特之处在于，虽然该项目将重点放在五年级的教室和实习教师身上，但该团队还将动员该地区一种重要但经常被低估的资源：学校图书馆及其图书馆员。犹他州立大学和卡什县学区之间的合作将涉及开发定制计算机科学棋盘游戏。学生们将在学校图书馆玩这些游戏，并在他们回到课堂时进行综合课程，以建立所遇到的计算思想。桌面游戏将放在图书馆供学生在课前、课后以及课间休息时玩；学生也可以在结帐时带回家。项目团队还将构建数字版本的棋盘游戏，然后学生将修改，重新混合，并在Scratch中使用基于块的编码共享。这将使学生能够进一步合作探索、建立和编码CT的想法，这些想法首先是在棋盘游戏中提出和体验的。该项目还将产生与桌面桌面游戏相关的设计原则，用于计算机科学，教室和学校图书馆的合作，以及如何通过与不插电和基于屏幕的媒体的接触更好地发展编码技能。该项目的成果将包括如何在小学阶段成功实施较低门槛形式的计算机科学教育的模型，以及它如何影响学生学习和兴趣的证据。更广泛地说，这些发现将有助于一系列旨在让更多女孩进入计算机科学的努力。它提高了人们对许多设计和合作活动的认识，研究人员可以追求一种新的不插电计算模式，而图书馆员在他们的学校中发挥着关键作用。该项目建立在该领域对如何利用屏幕之外的游戏体验为计算机科学教育服务的日益增长的理解之上。为期两年的设计和研究合作将构建桌面棋盘游戏、课程材料和数字实例，这将促进有关计算机科学教育资源有效设计的知识。它还利用了学校图书馆和在这些空间中受年轻人欢迎的有机桌面游戏活动，从而利用了现有年轻人的兴趣和教育专业人员的专业知识和技能，而这些知识和技能在讨论新课程时经常被忽视。游戏将强调计算概念，如算法思维、序列、循环、分解和迭代等计算思维的基本方面。共同开发并将在整个项目中解决的研究问题包括检查如何从桌面到屏幕的过渡：1)学校图书馆员和课堂教师如何有效地实施从桌面到屏幕的过渡，以支持围绕计算思维和编码的课堂活动；2)如何提高小学生，特别是女孩对编码和计算机科学的兴趣和学习。项目收集的数据包括：(1)临床访谈、访谈、焦点小组、游戏环节的笔录和音频或视频记录；(2)表征参与者兴趣的调查；(3)游戏玩法观察笔记。项目团队将使用开放式和轴向编码技术分析定性数据，以建立设计场景和案例。该项目将使用回归模型来理解学生兴趣的变化，内在和职业，性别作为一个潜在的中介协变量。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The nation is seeking ways to engage more students, particularly girls, in computer science and computational thinking (CS/CT) in schools. Current models often focus primarily on students working with computers at earlier ages and teachers as the primary instructor. This project presents an alternative model that allows for schools and districts to implement CS/CT education for all students, particularly girls, by focusing on "unplugged" gameplay in school libraries as a foundation for CS/CT lessons with computers in classrooms. The objectives of this project are to iteratively codesign, develop, and pilot instructional materials and sequences that deeply integrate CS/CT using board games and coding into upper elementary school classrooms in ways that specifically broaden participation, especially from girls. A unique feature of the approach is that while the project will focus on 5th grade classrooms and practicing teachers, the team will also mobilize a critical but often under-appreciated resource within the district: the school library and its librarians. The partnership between Utah State University and Cache County School District will involve developing custom computer science board games. Students will play these games in the school library and have synthesis lessons when they return to class to build upon the computational ideas encountered. The tabletop games will be in the library for students to play before and after school as well as during recesses; they will also be available for checkout for students to take home. The project team will also build digital versions of the board games that students will then revise, remix, and share using block-based coding in Scratch. This will enable students to further collaboratively explore, build upon, and code CT ideas first foregrounded and experienced in the board game. This project will also yield design principles related to tabletop board games for computer science, classroom and school library collaborations, and how coding skills can be better developed through encounters with both unplugged and screen-based media. Results of the project will include a model of how a lower threshold form of computer science education can be successfully enacted at the elementary school level coupled with evidence on how it impacts student learning and interest. More generally, findings will contribute to a wide range of efforts intended to bring more girls into computer science. It raises awareness of the many design and collaboration activities that researchers can pursue with respect to a new model of unplugged computing with librarians who play key roles in their schools.The project builds upon the field's growing understanding of how gameplay experiences that go beyond the screen can be utilized in service of computer science education. The two years of design and research partnership to build tabletop board games, curriculum materials, and digital instantiations will advance knowledge about the effective design of resources for computer science education. It also utilizes school libraries and organic tabletop gameplay activities that are popular among youth in those spaces, thus drawing upon existing youth interests and the expertise and skill of educational professionals who are often overlooked in discussions about new curricula. The games will emphasize computational concepts such as algorithmic thinking, sequences, loops, decomposition, and iteration foundational aspects of computational thinking. Research questions that have been jointly developed and will be addressed throughout this project include examining how transitioning from tabletops to screens 1) can be effectively implemented by school librarians and classroom teachers in ways that support classroom activities around computational thinking and coding, and 2) can increase interest in and learning of coding and computer science for elementary students, especially girls. The project will collect data including: (1) transcripts and audio or video recordings of clinical interviews, interviews, focus groups, and game sessions; (2) surveys characterizing participant interest; and (3) observation notes of the game play. The project team will analyze the qualitative data using open and axial coding techniques to establish design scenarios and cases. The project will use regression models to understand changes in students' interests, intrinsic and career, with gender as a potentially mediating covariate.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.