Developing curricula and supporting teaching of computer science and computational thinking for multilingual learners in grades K-8

该项目将帮助在职教师和资深教师开发课程和教学方法，帮助低收入、多语种的K-8年级学生提高计算机科学和计算思维技能。研究人员将与学校的实践专家广泛合作，创建教师学习途径，建立他们对该课程的信心和经验。该项目还利用学生社区的优势，让家庭参与到基于项目的学习体验中来。总体目标是培养教师将计算机科学和计算思维融入他们的科学课程的能力，并增加学生的学习和身份形成，特别是那些在STEM领域代表性不足的学生。通过解决经济条件差的学校多语种学习者的特殊需求，该项目将扩大学生发展技能和知识的机会，这对他们未来在就业市场上取得成功至关重要。结果将与全国的学校分享，作为对多语言学习者公平和包容的计算机科学教育的典范。该项目将研究如何开发和可持续地实施创新，以支持K-8教师以与学习者的生活和社区相关的方式让学生参与计算机科学和计算思维的能力。该项目将采用基于设计的研究方法，与教师、学生及其家庭合作设计创新方案，在教室和社区进行测试，并在整个项目期间对其进行改进，目的是扩大其影响，提高该地区为所有学生提供计算机科学教育的整体能力。数据分析将利用准实验设计来衡量多语言学习者的成就和教师的学习。这些数据将包括对课程创新和教师专业发展的观察、参与者调查和学生成绩数据。这项工作的结果将有助于我们理解(1)如何将计算机科学/计算思维连贯地整合到K-8科学课程中，从而提高学生在核心内容领域和计算机科学/计算思维方面的学习，特别是对于多语言学习者；(2)跨越教师学习的不同阶段（从职前到在职）的教师专业发展模式如何随着时间的推移为教师建立计算机科学/计算思维经验和信心；(3)在家、家庭参与的基于项目的学习经验如何增加所有学生，特别是多语种和低收入学习者的计算机科学/计算思维身份形成。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。

This project will prepare both teachers-in-training and veteran teachers to develop curriculum and instructional methods that will help low income, multilingual learners in grades K-8 grow their skills in computer science and computational thinking, The researchers will collaborate extensively with practitioner-experts in the schools to create a teacher learning pathway that builds their confidence and experience with this curricula. The project also leverages the strengths of the students’ community by engaging families in project-based learning experiences. The overall aim is to develop teachers' ability to integrate Computer Science and Computational Thinking into their science classes and to increase student learning and identity formation, particularly for those who are underrepresented in the STEM fields. By addressing the specific needs of multi-lingual learners in economically disadvantaged schools, this project will expand students’ opportunities to develop skills and knowledge that will be crucial to their success in the future job market. The results will be shared with schools nationwide as a model of equitable and inclusive computer science education for multilingual learners. This project will examine how to develop and sustainably implement innovations that can support K-8 teachers’ ability to engage their students in computer science and computational thinking in a manner that is relevant to the learners’ lives and communities. The project will employ a design-based research approach collaboratively designing innovations with teachers, students and their families, testing these in classrooms and the community, and refining them over the span of the project with the aim of scaling up their impact and increasing the overall capacity of the district to support computer science education for all students. Data analysis will utilize a quasi-experimental design to measure multilingual learners’ achievement and teacher learning. The data will include observations of the curricular innovations and teacher professional development, participant surveys, and student achievement data. Results from this work will contribute to our understanding of (1) how coherently integrating computer science/computational thinking into K-8 science curriculum can increase student learning in core content areas and computer science/computational thinking, particularly for multilingual learners, (2) how a teacher professional development model that spans different stages of teacher learning – from preservice to in-service – can build computer science/computational thinking experience and confidence for teachers over time, and (3) how at-home, family-engaged project-based learning experiences can increase computer science/computational thinking identity formation for all students, particularly multilingual and low-income learners.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.