Integrating Computational Thinking into the Insights Elementary Science Curriculum

STEM+C计划支持跨学科和跨学科方法的研究和开发，以将计算与科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）教学和学习相结合，为正式和非正式环境中的preK-12学生提供服务。迫切需要整合计算思维的基础科学课程材料;然而，科学严谨，连贯和适合发展的材料很少。这个项目，将计算思维整合到洞察力小学科学课程，由STEM+C计划支持，将通过调整洞察力的教学模块来开发这些材料，洞察力是一门小学科学课程，通过探究，话语和反思促进学生的科学意义。具体而言，将开发和试点测试见解课程中的四个模块，一年级两个，四年级两个。每个模块设计为6-8周的教学时间。这项工作很重要，因为它为阐明CT科学整合的发展适当的进展创造了锚点。在发展过程中吸取的经验教训将产生知识的生产方式，将CT与科学相结合，并将确定限制有效整合。该项目通过提供专业发展来解决小学教师缺乏教授计算机技术的准备。资源，包括注释工件的学生的工作和教室的视频，其中学生从事CT丰富的科学探究，将被整合到一个互动的教师指南。CT集成模块和相关教师支持的开发和试点测试将涉及三个1年级和三个4年级教室的迭代设计-测试-修改周期。实地测试将扩大到每个年级18个教室。教师和学校管理人员参与设计-测试-修改过程。为了实现其目标，项目团队将采取四个步骤：（1）将21个Insights基本科学模块与下一代科学标准（NGSS）进行交叉，以产生NGSS对齐和CT科学整合的临时范围和顺序;（2）制定和测试四个修订，与NGSS一致的洞察模块，整合了符合NGSS和计算机科学教师协会标准的CT概念和实践;（3）为实施修订后的洞察模块提供教师支持;以及（4）进行一项小型比较研究，以调查修订后的洞察模块对学生CT和科学学习的影响。比较研究的结果将被用来加强CT整合为修订后的实地测试版本，支持教师教材的开发，并提供有关修订后的模块的承诺的初步信息。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。

The STEM+C Program supports research and development of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches to the integration of computing within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teaching and learning for preK-12 students in both formal and informal settings. There is a pressing need for elementary science curriculum materials that integrate computational thinking; however, scientifically rigorous, coherent, and developmentally appropriate materials are scarce. This project, Integrating Computational Thinking into the Insights Elementary Science Curriculum, supported by the STEM+C program, will develop such materials by adapting instructional modules from Insights, an elementary science curriculum that promotes students' science sense-making through inquiry, discourse, and reflection. Specifically, four modules in the Insights curriculum, two for grade 1 and two for grade 4, will be developed and pilot tested. Each module is designed for 6-8 weeks of instructional time. This work is important because it creates anchoring points for articulating a developmentally appropriate progression for CT-science integration. Lessons learned during development will generate knowledge about productive ways to integrate CT with science and will identify limitations to effective integration. The project address elementary teachers' lack of preparation to teach CT by providing professional development. Resources, including annotated artifacts of student work and videos of classrooms in which students are engaged in CT-enriched science inquiry, will be integrated into an interactive teacher guide. Development and pilot testing of the CT-integrated modules and associated teacher supports will involve iterative design-test-revise cycles in three grade 1 and three grade 4 classrooms. Field testing will expand to 18 classrooms per grade. Teachers and school administrators are involved in the design-test-revise process. To achieve its aims, the project team will take four steps: (1) conduct a crosswalk of the 21 Insights elementary science modules with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) to produce a provisional scope and sequence for NGSS alignment and CT-science integration; (2) develop and test four revised, NGSS-aligned Insights modules that integrate CT concepts and practices consistent with NGSS and the Computer Science Teachers Association standards; (3) develop teacher supports for implementing the revised Insights modules; and (4) conduct a small comparison study to investigate the impact of the revised Insights modules on student CT and science learning. Results of the comparison study will be used to strengthen CT integration for the revised field test version, support the development of teacher materials, and provide preliminary information about the promise of the revised modules.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.