Collaborative Research: The Smart Playground: Computational Thinking through Robotics in Early Childhood

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Technology and computing are increasingly central in the lives of children, and building foundational skills in computational thinking in the early years is a national imperative. Young children can learn best through play and in educational environments that sustain their cultural practices and identities. This Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) project will co-create and study an outdoor robotic-augmented playground called the “Smart Playground” and a corresponding series of classroom lessons. The Smart Playground will be co-designed with Latinx families and educators to engage young children (kindergarten) in developing computational thinking skills and learning about robotics in a physical environment using a culturally sustaining approach. The project will retrofit existing playgrounds in a low-income, predominantly Latinx school district with circuit boards, sensors, and actuators. These boards will allow young children to program their playground to interact with them in different ways. By programming activities that use the playground structures, children will learn foundational computational thinking skills. Further, through co-designing with Latinx families and educators the project will center the technology and activities in families’ routines, values, and cultural funds of knowledge. Research and evaluation will examine whether exposure to the Smart Playground and corresponding classroom activities have an impact on the development of computational thinking in young children. This project will contribute to the emerging field of robotics in early childhood education by addressing the need for new approaches to teach with and about technology in a developmentally appropriate and culturally sustaining way. This work will increase awareness of early robotics, develop children’s computational thinking skills and STEM identities, and integrate learning opportunities throughout children’s experiences in playgrounds, classrooms, and public spaces. The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (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.This project aims to create and test an innovative educational approach for bringing STEM learning experiences to underserved youth. Using a culturally sustaining approach, this project will co-design, augment, and evaluate the Smart Playground to promote computational thinking with approximately 500 Latinx kindergarten students and their teachers and families from Santa Ana, CA. Using a Design Based Implementation Research approach and a variety of participatory design techniques, this project will create several prototypes of the Smart Playground and corresponding classroom activities. This work is guided by the following research questions: 1.) What is the impact of engaging with the Smart Playground on children’s computational thinking? 2.) How do varied design elements in the Smart Playground support the development of different aspects of computational thinking among children? 3.) In what ways do Latinx children, teachers, and families in Santa Ana propose to integrate local, cultural, and learning practices into the Smart Playground during co-design activities? A wide range of quantitative and qualitative data governing student gains in computational thinking during baseline, implementation, and follow-up phases will inform the iterative process of design-test-redesign. The project will also collect, transcribe, and analyze observations, interviews, and meeting records to develop thematic insights into culturally sustaining designs and re-design of the Smart Playground elements. Ultimately, this project will result in an evidenced based set of prototypes and lessons that promote computational thinking and build from the cultural strengths of Latinx children. Designs and lessons will prioritize usable and scalable materials to create playful computational thinking opportunities in classrooms and playgrounds across the country and the world.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.