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世纪全面教育的必要条件。然而，许多小学没有提供适合年龄的计算机科学教育，特别是英语学习者（EL）不成比例地缺乏计算机科学教育。缺乏与年龄相适应的计算机科学教育是一个由多种因素共同作用而产生的问题，包括学校每天用于计算机科学教学的时间有限，小学教师缺乏学习教授计算机科学的机会，以及大多数与年龄相适应的计算机科学材料的术语含量很高（使他们难以使用）。此外，许多将计算机科学引入小学的举措都是由赠款资助的，而大多数由赠款资助的干预措施在资金用完后就会消失。除了计算机科学教育，21世纪的课堂也需要解决环境可持续性问题。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，本项目将环境可持续性（ES）作为真正的跨学科CS学习的主要上下文锚点，因为这些主题与科学和社会研究的跨年级标准一致，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历和想法提供了丰富的连接点，这支持了语言包容性教学法。该项目利用由教育工作者、研究人员、内容专家以及州和地区代表组成的多学科团队的专业知识，为从事英语教学的小学教师开发cs集成课程模块和培训材料。由于教师通常没有时间“从零开始”设计全新的课程，因此该项目将侧重于修改现有课程，以包含更多的ES和CS内容。持续的影响融入到项目的结构中；项目团队开发的培训模式将作为马里兰大学（UMD）著名的STEM教师领导力硕士学位课程的一部分继续存在，这些模块将在网上发布，并由州和地区代表分发。该项目包括三个阶段。在第一阶段，研究实践伙伴关系（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，该团队将开发一种教师专业学习的教学模式，并在马里兰大学为在职K-12教师开设的一门名为“教学与学习计算机科学”的永久性课程中进行试点。在第三阶段，该团队将在网络资源中为教师和教师教育者传播材料、设计原则和专业学习模式。在整个项目中，将收集数据来评估设计原则、课程和专业学习模式的有效性，并建立关于CS教学和学习的新知识，特别是针对英语学习者。本项目的研究将探讨：(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实、可持续的跨学科整合时，会出现哪些机遇和挑战？(2) RPP利益相关者在试点修改课程时，特别是在EL学生参与cs注入的跨学科STEM方面，认为跨学科整合的机遇和挑战是什么？(3)如果有的话，专业学习模式在影响教师对基础教学中跨学科STEM和计算机科学整合的观点方面有什么启示？RPP教师实施修改课程的视频和工件将被收集和分析。策划的实施视频也将作为教学资源在网上发布。RPP会议的视频和RPP成员的调查/访谈将支持RPP动态分析。来自试点专业学习实施（在UMD教师课程中）的视频和工件将用于迭代学习模型，并有助于该领域对如何支持可持续教师学习和信念改变的理解。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.