Collaborative Research: Unpacking Computational Thinking for Elementary Teachers and Learners

协作研究：为小学教师和学习者解开计算思维

• 批准号: 2300323
• 负责人: Robin Jocius
• 金额: $ 44.36万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at Arlington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-06-01 至 2027-05-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2300323&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Unpacking; Computational; Thinking

The goal of this project is to investigate the integration of computational thinking (CT) into elementary school curricula by studying how teachers develop expertise in integrating CT activities that align with interdisciplinary standards and existing curricula. This project addresses the critical need for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) literacy by investigating effective models of professional development (PD) that improve STEM teaching and learning. Leveraging an asset-based approach, the project will provide opportunities to broaden participation in computer science education through building a community of practice for teachers and designing CT-infused curricula. To ensure that all teachers have the necessary support to participate in new pedagogical practices of increasing complexity, the project will utilize a collaborative teacher PD and mentorship structure in which teachers will work closely with peers and project team members to prepare, teach, and reflect upon lessons through multi-year participation. The research will document how teachers come to understand CT and take up these practices in their classrooms. The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of STEM by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects.Over four years, this project will directly impact 135 teachers in multi-year participation in professional development and approximately 12,000 students indirectly in their classrooms. This project will initially focus on schools in South Carolina, especially in rural districts. The project will be guided by three primary research questions: 1) How do preK-5 teachers integrate CT into their disciplinary teaching?; 2) What are the personal learning trajectories that teachers move through as they work towards CT integration?; 3) What are the barriers and accelerators for teachers’ implementation of CT-infused lessons? This project is grounded in the idea that incremental, sustainable, and substantial teacher learning comes when teachers are fully invested in the cycle of learning and have opportunities to build and strengthen their communities of practice. In reflective PD sessions held throughout the academic year and summer, teachers will explore, co-design, implement, and refine student learning activities that integrate CT into existing content area standards and curricula. The CT activities, which will include standards-based lesson plans, assessments, and supplemental resources, will offer both plugged and unplugged components, so that students and teachers have opportunities to understand the conceptual underpinnings of computational thinking with and without computers. A minimum of 120 lessons and related pedagogical materials mapped to core-content standards will be developed and made freely available to the public on the project website. Using a mixed methods approach, this study will document the trajectories through which elementary teachers move as they begin to integrate CT into disciplinary teaching, as well as barriers and accelerators faced as they integrate CT into disciplinary teaching. Quantitative survey methodologies and multimodal analysis of narrative interviews, classroom video, teacher reflections, and pedagogical artifacts will be used to analyze teachers’ sense making about CT over time and the uptake of new pedagogical approaches in their teaching. Ultimately, this study will produce a set of empirically-tested learning trajectories that can be used to support teachers in integrating CT into their classrooms. As a means of expanding the community of practice, sharing resources, and disseminating project findings to a nationwide audience, the project also incorporates a virtual PD component to support PD access to elementary school teachers from underrepresented and underserved schools across the United States.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.

该项目的目标是通过研究教师如何培养将计算思维活动与跨学科标准和现有课程相结合的专业知识，来调查计算思维（CT）融入小学课程。该项目通过研究改善STEM教学和学习的有效专业发展（PD）模式，解决了科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）素养的关键需求。利用基于资产的方法，该项目将通过建立教师实践社区和设计计算机科学课程，为扩大计算机科学教育的参与提供机会。为了确保所有教师都能得到必要的支持，参与到日益复杂的新教学实践中，该项目将采用合作式教师PD和师徒结构，教师将与同行和项目团队成员密切合作，通过多年的参与来准备、教学和反思课程。这项研究将记录教师是如何理解CT并在课堂上进行这些实践的。探索研究项目（DRK-12）旨在通过研究和开发创新的资源、模型和工具，显著提高pre -12学生和教师对STEM的学习和教学。DRK-12计划中的项目建立在STEM教育的基础研究和先前的研究和开发工作的基础上，为拟议的项目提供了理论和实证依据。在四年的时间里，该项目将直接影响135名教师参与多年的专业发展，并间接影响大约12000名学生。该项目将首先关注南卡罗来纳州的学校，特别是农村地区的学校。本课题将以三个主要研究问题为指导：1)学前五年级教师如何将CT融入学科教学；2)教师在努力实现CT整合的过程中，他们的个人学习轨迹是什么？3)教师实施ct教学的障碍和促进因素是什么？该项目基于这样一个理念，即当教师充分投入到学习周期中，并有机会建立和加强他们的实践社区时，增量、可持续和实质性的教师学习就会到来。在整个学年和夏季举行的反思性PD会议上，教师将探索、共同设计、实施和完善学生的学习活动，将CT整合到现有的内容领域标准和课程中。CT活动将包括基于标准的课程计划、评估和补充资源，将提供插电和不插电的组件，以便学生和教师有机会了解有计算机和没有计算机的计算思维的概念基础。将编制至少120个课程和符合核心内容标准的相关教学材料，并在项目网站上免费向公众提供。采用混合方法，本研究将记录小学教师开始将CT融入学科教学时的轨迹，以及他们将CT融入学科教学时面临的障碍和促进因素。定量调查方法和叙述性访谈、课堂视频、教师反思和教学文物的多模态分析将用于分析教师随着时间的推移对CT的理解以及在教学中采用新的教学方法。最终，本研究将产生一套经过实证检验的学习轨迹，可用于支持教师将CT融入课堂。作为扩大实践社区、共享资源和向全国受众传播项目成果的一种手段，该项目还包含一个虚拟PD组件，以支持来自美国代表性不足和服务不足的学校的小学教师获得PD。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。