Collaborative Research: Developing a Systemic, Scalable Model to Broaden Participation in Middle School Computer Science

非洲裔美国人、拉丁裔和来自低社会经济家庭的学生往往没有机会学习计算机科学和计算思维(CS/CT)，这些概念对参与21世纪的劳动力和公民至关重要。这些有限的机会往往是学校系统做法的结果，这些做法影响到学校的广泛相关部分，包括领导力、学生和教师获得CS/CT资源的机会、学生和教师的CS/CT学习机会、先前的经验和参与CS/CT的鼓励。该项目将建立在北卡罗来纳州立大学星期五教育创新研究所与维克县公立学校系统的一所中学之间的长期研究-实践伙伴关系(RPP)的基础上，以深化RPP，进一步发展CS/CT的概念、理论和应用框架。此外，该项目将通过与北卡罗来纳州大学夏洛特分校和夏洛特-梅克伦堡学校的发展伙伴关系，将这一RPP工作扩展到另一个新成立的CS/CT重点磁铁，以复制RPP，用于新的“计算机科学和编码”磁铁计划。由于数学和科学课程是所有中学生都上的，该项目将使用这一学术背景作为该项目工作的重点。这项提案专门针对夏洛特和罗利的中学，这些学校的非裔美国人和拉丁裔人口相对较多，午餐免费和减少的百分比，以扩大现有的RPP。该项目的目标是为未被充分代表的学生提供公平的计算机会；为中学生准备高中的计算机课程；开发和测试有效的CS/CT模块，将其整合到现有的数学和科学课程中；调查以CS/CT为重点的系统障碍和支持；STEM生态系统框架是构建学生在STEM学习中的障碍和支持结构的新兴模式，包括CS/CT，它认识到有效的CS/CT学习是整个相互关联的学术事业的产物--要素包括学校领导、教师和学生CS/CT资源、可用的CS/CT学习机会，以及CS/CT方面的先前经验、鼓励和培训。该项目将采用STEM生态系统模式，作为一种可扩展、可推广的方法，在全校范围内将CS/CT系统地整合到必修的数学和科学课程中。在两所磁性中学试图将CS/CT整合到他们的课程中的背景下，这项工作将以以下主要研究问题为指导：1.通过整合到中学科学和数学课程来为每个学生开发支持CS/CT的STEM生态系统的障碍是什么？2.需要哪些因素或干预措施来支持以CS/CT为重点的STEM生态系统的发展，以支持学校中的每个人？3.学校以CS/CT为重点的STEM生态系统的成功指标是什么？4.生态系统如何准备并吸引所有学生，特别是那些来自代表不足的学生群体的学生，在高中的CS/CT工作吗？为了解决前两个研究问题，数据将包括来自RPP领导团队的主题分析的会议记录，对教师和学校领导的访谈，来自教师和学校领导的观察性和自我报告调查数据。此外，还将包括专业发展研讨会数据，以便对访谈和调查的答复进行三角测量。为了解决第三个研究问题，数据将包括学生人口统计数据、STEM活动的参与度、课堂观察、以课程内外接触CS/CT的人口统计数据衡量的学生参与度、参与程度的活动观察、关于态度、学习和未来对CS/CT的兴趣的自我报告数据、教师对学习和参与的观察、来自学生、教师、观察员的活动/模块评分、课堂人工制品(档案袋或项目)以及年级结束时的科学和数学表现。对于问题4，项目和RPP团队的成员将根据新兴的K12 CS标准对NC高中CS课程大纲进行年度审查，咨询委员会将提供意见。来自Reedy Creek和Northside的教案和学生作品将被抽样，并与当前高中对CS学术工作的期望进行比较。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。

African-American, Latinx and students from low socio-economic households too often do not have opportunities to learn computer science and computational thinking (CS/CT), concepts that are crucial for participation in the 21st century workforce and citizenry. These limited opportunities are often the result of systemic practices in schools that impact a wide range of connected parts of the school including leadership, access to CS/CT resources for students and teachers, CS/CT learning opportunities for students and teachers, and prior experiences and encouragement to participate in CS/CT. This project will build on a long-standing Research-Practice Partnership (RPP) between NC State University's Friday Institute for Educational Innovation and a middle school in Wake County Public School System to deepen the RPP to further develop conceptual, theoretical, and applied frameworks for CS/CT. Additionally, the project will scale this RPP work to another newly-forming CS/CT focused magnet through a developing partnership with UNC Charlotte and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to replicate the RPP for a new "Computer science and coding" magnet program. Since mathematics and science classes are taken by all middle school students, the project will use this academic context as the focus of the project's work. This proposal specifically targets middle schools in both Charlotte and Raleigh with relatively high African-American and Latinx populations, and free and reduced lunch percentages, to scale the existing RPP. The project goals are to provide equitable access to underrepresented students in computing; to prepare middle school students for computing curriculum in high school; to develop and test effective CS/CT modules that integrate in existing math and science curriculum; to investigate CS/CT-focused systemic barriers and supports; and to propagate RPP findings to other schools and districts.The STEM ecosystems framework is an emerging model for framing the barriers and support structures students have in STEM learning, including CS/CT that recognizes that effective CS/CT learning is the product of the entire connected academic enterprise--with elements including school leadership, teacher and student CS/CT resources, and available CS/CT learning opportunities, along with prior experiences, encouragement, and training in CS/CT. The project will adapt the STEM ecosystem model as a scalable, generalizable approach for systematic, school-wide integration of CS/CT into required math and science courses. Within the context of two magnet middle schools seeking to integrate CS/CT across their curricula, this work will be guided by the following overarching research questions: 1. What are the barriers to developing a STEM ecosystem that supports CS/CT for every student through integration into middle school science and math courses? 2. What factors or interventions are needed to support the development of a CS/CT focused STEM ecosystem that supports everyone in a school? 3. What are the indicators of success for a CS/CT focused STEM ecosystem in a school? 4. How does the ecosystem prepare and engage all students, especially those from underrepresented student groups, for CS/CT work in high school? To address the first two research questions, data will include meeting notes for thematic analyses from RPP leadership teams, interviews with teachers and school leaders, observational and self-report survey data from teachers and school leadership. Additionally, professional development workshop data will be included to triangulate responses from interviews and surveys. To address the third research question, data will include student demographic data, participation in STEM activities, classroom observations, student engagement as measured by demographics exposed to CS/CT within and external to the curriculum, activity observations of engagement levels, self-report data of attitudes, learning and future interest in CS/CT, teacher observations of learning and engagement, activity/module ratings from students, teachers, observers, class artifacts (portfolios or projects), and End of Grades science and math performance. For Question 4, members of the project and RPP teams, with input from the Advisory Board will perform an annual review of NC high school CS course syllabi against emerging K12 CS standards. Lesson plans and artifacts of student work from Reedy Creek and Northside will be sampled and compared against current high school expectations for CS academic work.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.