Towards Culturally Responsive and Computationally Rich Problem Based Learning for K-5 Students

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This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). This project is supported through the CS for All: Research and RPPs program.Native Americans are significantly underrepresented in computer science careers. However, studies show that early exposure to computer science allows underrepresented students to develop foundational computer science skills and consider future learning in computer science. This project is focused on developing culturally relevant pedagogy and problem-based learning for Native American students in computer science. The project would create an innovative activity focused on equity in Internet access and how the Internet works so students can learn about computer science in a meaningful context. The project will use a citizen science approach to engaging students in tasks that are important to their local communities. The proposed work is a small, researcher-practitioner partnership at the middle school level between a university and a local school district. The team members include teachers, computer scientists, and STEM education experts. The primary goal is to begin to develop methods for designing problem-based tasks that are culturally meaningful for upper elementary students. The project will develop and pilot a curriculum to help fifth grade students contribute to Internet availability maps by engaging with computer science and computational thinking concepts such as computer networking, data representation, data collection and analysis, and algorithmic thinking. The research-practitioner partnership will use a design-based implementation research model to study the design and implementation of the culturally meaningful curriculum with a particular focus on Native American students. There are two research questions. (1) How do K-5 schools and teachers identify culturally responsive, computationally rich problems that lend themselves to rigorous problem-based learning in computer science and computational thinking? (2) What curricular and teacher development support is needed to enable K-5 teachers to engage all students (particularly Native American students) in problem-based learning that rigorously integrates computer science and computational thinking? The partnership will collect data about the activity design process, the partnership itself, and students’ learning and experience of computational thinking and computer science.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.