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

国家正在想方设法让更多的学生，特别是女孩，在学校里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年龄较小的学生使用计算机，以及教师作为主要讲师。该项目提出了另一种模式，允许学校和学区对所有学生，特别是女生，实施CS/CT教育，重点是在学校图书馆里进行“不插电”的游戏，作为在教室里使用计算机进行CS/CT课程的基础。这个项目的目标是反复地共同设计、开发和试点教学材料和序列，将CS/CT使用棋盘游戏和编码深度整合到高中课堂，具体扩大参与的方式，特别是来自女孩的参与。这种方法的一个独特之处是，虽然该项目将重点放在五年级的教室和实习教师身上，但该团队也将动员该学区内一项关键但往往被低估的资源：学校图书馆及其图书管理员。犹他州州立大学和卡奇县学区之间的合作将涉及开发定制的计算机科学棋盘游戏。学生们将在学校图书馆里玩这些游戏，当他们回到课堂上时，他们将上综合课，以建立所遇到的计算思想。桌面游戏将在图书馆供学生在放学前、放学后和课间休息时玩；它们也将供学生结账带回家。项目团队还将构建棋类游戏的数字版本，然后学生将使用Scratch中基于块的编码来修改、重新混合和共享。这将使学生能够进一步协作地探索、构建和编码最初在棋盘游戏中突出和体验的CT想法。该项目还将产生与计算机科学、课堂和学校图书馆合作的桌面棋盘游戏有关的设计原则，以及如何通过接触未连接的媒体和基于屏幕的媒体来更好地发展编码技能。该项目的成果将包括一个如何在小学一级成功实施较低门槛形式的计算机科学教育的模型，以及关于它如何影响学生学习和兴趣的证据。更广泛地说，这些发现将有助于旨在让更多女孩进入计算机科学的广泛努力。它提高了人们对研究人员可以与在学校发挥关键作用的图书管理员进行的许多设计和合作活动的认识。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基础上。两年的设计和研究伙伴关系，以构建桌面棋盘游戏、课程材料和数字实例，将促进对有效设计计算机科学教育资源的了解。它还利用学校图书馆和在这些空间的青年中流行的有机桌面游戏活动，从而利用现有的青年兴趣和教育专业人员的专门知识和技能，而这些专业人员在讨论新课程时往往被忽视。游戏将强调计算概念，如算法思维、序列、循环、分解和迭代计算思维的基础方面。共同开发并将在整个项目中讨论的研究问题包括研究如何从桌面过渡到屏幕1)学校图书馆管理员和课堂教师如何有效地实施支持围绕计算思维和编码的课堂活动，以及2)可以提高小学生，特别是女孩对编码和计算机科学的兴趣和学习。该项目将收集的数据包括：(1)临床访谈、访谈、焦点小组和游戏会议的文字记录和音频或视频记录；(2)表征参与者兴趣的调查；以及(3)游戏操作的观察笔记。项目组将使用开放式和轴向编码技术分析定性数据，以建立设计方案和案例。该项目将使用回归模型来了解学生兴趣、内在兴趣和职业兴趣的变化，性别是潜在的中介协变量。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.