Computing for the Social Good: A Research-Practice Partnership to Increase Equity among Students and Parents

圣克鲁斯城市学校、圣克鲁斯教育基金会和教育、培训、研究(ETR)之间的合作，以及来自斯坦福大学和加州大学的其他研究人员，建立在之前NSF研究-实践伙伴关系(RPP)奖的基础上，以建设能力，并设计和测试3-8年级计算机科学(CS)教育和计算思维的途径。我们的RPP发现了三个与国家CS相关的实践问题，地区行政人员认为可以通过创建CS路径来解决这些问题：1)人口群体中学术素养的不平等(白人和拉丁裔学生之间的最大差距)，2)基于种族和阶级的日益隔离的学校，以及3)家庭进入和参与我们的数字社会的不平等。这个项目将解决这些问题：1)激励、准备和支持教师将以公平为导向的计算机科学融入核心课程，并支持英语发展；2)开发一种K-8课程，通过让学生和家庭准备好成为使用CS为社会公益的公民来吸引他们；3)通过计算机素养和领导活动建立家庭参与和能力；以及4)发展我们以设计为基础的实施RPP，涉及地区行政人员、校长、教师、学校工作人员、研究人员和教育基金会董事会成员。该项目将产生活动和研究知识，可用于增加希望学习更多计算机科学并有能力和兴趣使用CS造福社会的女孩和拉丁裔学生的数量。它还将是第一批将数据科学整合到K-8中的生成和测试单元之一，并将产生一个系统，以准备K-8教师将以公平为导向的计算机科学教育注入他们的课程。这个项目将有助于我们理解：1)如何准备和支持K-8教师在他们的课程中灌输以公平为导向的CS，包括哪些概念对教师来说难以理解和整合，以及社会公平的角度是否对他们有激励作用；2)哪些CS和计算思维概念可以用来支持K-8教师的学业素养和语言发展，3)如何将社会公益社区作为身份探索和培养青年和家长领导力的工具；4)哪些战略将有效地吸引拉丁裔和低收入家庭在他们的学校和社区社区中参与；5)如何建立社区支持计划；以及6)社区支持计划的过程和结果--社区支持计划何时以及在什么条件下能够为所有人的社区服务做出贡献，包括研究人员和实践者都需要的技能、战略、角色和身份认同。该项目将采用混合方法和设计研究策略，重点设计数据科学课程，支持学生通过影响社区社会公益的问题进行学习。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。

A collaboration between Santa Cruz City Schools, the Santa Cruz Education Foundation, and Education, Training, Research (ETR), with additional researchers from Stanford University and the University of California builds on a previous NSF award for a research-practice partnership (RPP) to build capacity, and design and test a pathway for computer science (CS) education and computational thinking in 3rd-8th grade. Our RPP has identified three problems of practice that have relevance to national CS for All efforts, and are issues that district administrators believe can be addressed by the creation of a CS pathway: 1) inequity in academic literacy across demographic groups (the largest gaps between white and Latinx students), 2) increasingly segregated schools based on race and class, and 3) inequity in family access to and engagement with our digital society. This project will address these issues: 1) Motivate, prepare and support teachers to integrate equity-oriented computer science into core curriculum with supports for English language development, 2) Develop a K-8 pathway that attracts students and families by preparing them to be citizens who use CS for the social good, 3) Build family engagement and competence through computer literacy and leadership activities, and 4) Grow our Design-Based Implementation RPP that involves district administrators, principals, teachers, school staff, researchers, and education foundation board members. The project will generate activities and research knowledge that can be used to increase the number of girls and Latinx students who want to learn more computer science and have the capacity and interest to use CS for the social good. It will also be one of the first to generate and test units that integrate data science into K-8 and will produce a system for preparing K-8 teachers to infuse equity-oriented computer science education into their curriculum. Finally, it will identify strategies that schools can use to engage families and increase parents' confidence and competence to become leaders at their children's school and use computing to advance their own education and career.This project will contribute to our understanding of: 1) How to prepare and support K-8 teachers to infuse equity-oriented CS into their curriculum including which concepts are difficult for teachers to understand and integrate, and whether a social justice angle is motivating to them, 2) Which CS and computational thinking concepts can be used to support academic literacy and language development in K-8, 3) How CS for the social good can be used as a tool for identity exploration and to foster youth and parent leadership, 4) Which strategies will effectively engage Latinx and low income families in their school and CS, 5) How to build an RPP, and 6) The process and outcomes of RPPs--when and under what conditions RPPs can contribute to CS for All, including the skills, strategies, roles and identities that are needed for both the researchers and the practitioners. Using mixed-methods and a design-research strategy, the project will focus on designing data science curriculum that support students' learning through problems that impact social good in their neighborhoods.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.