C-STEM for sustainability: Preparing elementary-school teachers to integrate computer science into linguistically inclusive, transdisciplinary STEM instruction

计算机科学（CS）素养是21世纪世纪全面教育的基础。然而，许多小学不提供适合年龄的CS教育，特别是英语学习者（EL）不成比例地缺乏CS教育。缺乏适合年龄的计算机教育是一个问题，出现在一个汇合的因素，包括有限的时间在学校一天的计算机教学，小学教师缺乏机会学习教计算机，和术语重的性质，大多数年龄适合的计算机材料（使他们难以使用）。此外，许多将CS引入小学的举措都是由赠款资助的，大多数赠款资助的干预措施在资金耗尽时就会消失。除了计算机科学教育，也有一个需要21世纪的世纪教室，以解决环境可持续性的问题。解决复杂的环境问题需要一种“跨学科”的方法，综合包括数学、公民学、科学和计算机科学在内的许多学科的知识。因此，这个项目的重点是环境的可持续性（ES）作为真实的跨学科CS学习的主要背景锚，因为这些主题与科学和社会研究的各个年级的标准相一致，并邀请使用计算实践，概念和工具。此外，这些主题为学生的日常经验和想法提供了丰富的联系点，这支持了语言包容性的语言学。该项目利用教育工作者，研究人员，内容专家和州和地区代表的多学科团队的专业知识，为与EL合作的小学教师开发CS集成课程模块和培训材料。由于教师通常没有时间“从头开始”设计全新的课程，该项目将侧重于修改现有的课程，以包括更多的ES和CS内容。持续的影响被融入到项目的结构中;项目团队开发的培训模型将作为马里兰州大学（UMD）STEM教师领导力硕士学位课程的一部分继续存在，这些模块将在线发布并由州和地区代表分发。 该项目包括三个阶段。在第一阶段，研究实践伙伴（RPP）团队将修改地区发布的课程，在RPP教师的课堂上试用这些课程，并制定跨学科课程修改的设计原则。在第二阶段，该团队将为教师专业学习开发一个教学模型，并在在职K-12教师的永久UMD课程中试点该模型，称为教学和学习计算机科学。在第三阶段，该小组将在教师和教师教育工作者的网络资源中传播材料、设计原则和专业学习模式。在整个项目中，将收集数据，以评估设计原则，课程和专业学习模式的有效性，并建立有关教学和学习CS的新知识，特别是英语学习者。该项目的研究将探讨：（1）当一个具有不同需求和专业知识的RPP团队致力于支持小学真正的，可持续的跨学科融合时，会出现什么机遇和挑战？(2)RPP持份者在试行修改课程时，特别是在EL学生参与CS注入的跨学科STEM方面，发现了跨学科融合的哪些机遇和挑战？以及（3）专业学习模式对教师在跨学科STEM和计算机科学整合的基础教学中的观点有什么影响？将收集和分析RPP教师实施修改课程的视频和工件。还将在网上发布精心策划的执行视频，作为教学资源。有关方案会议的录像，以及对方案成员的调查/访问，将有助于分析方案的动态。从试点专业学习实施（在UMD课程的教师）的视频和文物将被用来验证学习模式，并有助于该领域的理解如何支持可持续的教师学习和信念的变化。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

Computer science (CS) literacies are essential to a well-rounded education in the 21st century. Yet, many elementary schools do not offer age-appropriate CS education and in particular, English Learners (EL) disproportionately lack access to CS education. The lack of age-appropriate CS education is a problem that emerges from a confluence of factors, including limited time in the school day for CS instruction, elementary teachers’ lack of opportunities to learn to teach CS, and the jargon-heavy nature of most age-appropriate CS materials (making them hard for ELs to use). Furthermore, many initiatives to introduce CS into elementary schools are funded by grants, and most grant-funded interventions die out when the funding runs out. In addition to CS education, there is also a need for 21st century classrooms to address issues of environmental sustainability. Addressing complex environmental issues requires a “transdisciplinary” approach, synthesizing knowledge across many disciplines including mathematics, civics, science, and computer science. Thus, this project focuses on environmental sustainability (ES) as the primary contextual anchor for authentic transdisciplinary CS learning since these topics align with standards across grade levels in both science and social studies and invite the use of computational practices, concepts, and tools. Additionally, these topics provide rich points of connection to students’ everyday experiences and ideas, which supports linguistically inclusive pedagogies. This project leverages the expertise of a multidisciplinary team of educators, researchers, content specialists, and state and district representatives to develop CS-integrated curricular modules and training materials for elementary school teachers who work with ELs. Since teachers generally lack time to design completely new lessons “from scratch,” the project will focus on modifying existing lessons to include more ES and CS content. Sustained impact is baked into the project’s structure; the training model developed by the project team will live on as part of a course in the well-established University of Maryland (UMD) master's degree program in STEM teacher leadership, and the modules will be published online and distributed by state and district representatives. The project includes three phases. In Phase 1, the research practice partnership (RPP) team will modify district-issued lessons, pilot these lessons in RPP teachers’ classrooms, and develop design principles for transdisciplinary lesson modification. In Phase 2, the team will develop an instructional model for teacher professional learning and pilot the model in a permanent UMD course for in-service K-12 teachers called Teaching and Learning Computer Science. In Phase 3, the team will disseminate materials, design principles, and the professional learning model in a web-based resource for teachers and teacher educators. Throughout the project, data will be collected to evaluate the efficacy of the design principles, lessons, and professional learning model and to build new knowledge about teaching and learning CS, specifically for English Learners. The project’s research will explore: (1) What opportunities and challenges arise when an RPP team with diverse needs and expertise works to support authentic, sustainable transdisciplinary integration in elementary schools? (2) What opportunities and challenges to transdisciplinary integration do RPP stakeholders identify as they pilot modified lessons, particularly with respect to EL students' participation in CS-infused transdisciplinary STEM? and (3) What affordances does the professional learning model have, if any, for influencing teachers’ perspectives on transdisciplinary STEM and computer science integration in elementary teaching and learning? Video and artifacts from RPP teachers’ implementations of modified lessons will be collected and analyzed. Curated implementation videos will also be published online as a pedagogical resource. Video of RPP meetings and surveys/interviews of RPP members will support analyses of RPP dynamics. Video and artifacts from the pilot professional learning implementation (in the UMD course for teachers) will be used to iterate the learning model and contribute to the field’s understanding of how to support sustainable teacher learning and belief change.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.