Getting Unstuck: Designing and Evaluating Teacher Resources to Support Conceptual and Creative Fluency with Programming

该项目将为教师创造机会，发展编程内容的知识和计算机科学教育的创造性的可能性的新的理解，从而增加学生的机会，发展概念和创造性的流畅编程。K-12入门编程经验往往是高度脚手架，它可以是具有挑战性的学生从约束练习过渡到开放式编程活动遇到后来在学校内外。教师可以提供关键的支持，帮助学生解决问题，并发展概念和创造性复杂编程挑战所需的认知，社交和情感能力。教师-特别是小学和中学教师，特别是在农村和第一类学校-往往缺乏编程内容的知识，技能和实践需要支持更深入，更有意义的编程经验的学生。专业发展机会可以培养教师的专业知识，特别是在课程材料的支持下，教师的专业学习和学生的课堂学习。本研究响应了这些需求，解决了国家通过教师专业发展增加所有学生获得高质量K-12计算机科学教育的关键优先事项。该项目将涉及设计和评估（1）教师在线学习体验，通过简短的日常编程提示培养概念和创造性流畅性（以Scratch编程环境为特色），以及（2）课堂教育课程材料（基于在线体验）。在线体验和课程材料将与三名4至6年级的农村或标题I教师合作开发。该项目将使用混合方法分析教师感知专业知识的调查前/后数据，并对教师的课程和不断发展的概念知识进行定量分析，以评估教师在在线体验中的学习。另外三名四年级至六年级的教师将在他们的教室里试用课程材料。这六名试点教师将保留关于他们经验的实地期刊，并将参加访谈，评估资源在实践中的使用情况。将编写一份教师课堂的人种志，以进一步促进对课堂资源的了解，包括学生的经验和学习。学生的学习将通过学生访谈和学生项目的分析进行评估。项目成果将告知如何为教师和学生开发计算机科学概念知识和创造性流利性，这对学生未来的工作和生活至关重要。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。

The project will create opportunities for teachers to develop programming content knowledge and new understandings of the creative possibilities in computer science education, thereby increasing opportunities for students to develop conceptual and creative fluency with programming. K-12 introductory programming experiences are often highly scaffolded, and it can be challenging for students to transition from constrained exercises to open-ended programming activities encountered later in-and out of-school. Teachers can provide critical support to help students solve problems and develop the cognitive, social, and emotional capacities required for conceptually and creatively complex programming challenges. Teachers - particularly elementary and middle school teachers, especially in rural and Title I schools - often lack the programming content knowledge, skills, and practices needed to support deeper and more meaningful programming experiences for students. Professional development opportunities can cultivate teacher expertise, especially when supported by curricular materials that bridge teachers' professional learning and students' classroom learning. This research responds to these needs, addressing key national priorities for increasing access to high-quality K-12 computer science education for all students through teacher professional development.The project will involve the design and evaluation of (1) an online learning experience for teachers to develop conceptual and creative fluency through short, daily programming prompts (featuring the Scratch programming environment), and (2) educative curricular materials for the classroom (based on the online experience). The online experience and curricular materials will be developed in collaboration with three 4th through 6th-grade rural or Title I teachers. The project will evaluate teacher learning in the online experience using mixed-methods analyses of pre/post-survey data of teachers' perceived expertise and quantitative analyses of teachers' programs and evolving conceptual knowledge. Three additional 4th through 6th-grade teachers will pilot the curricular materials in their classrooms. The six pilot teachers will maintain field journals about their experiences and will participate in interviews, evaluating use of the resources in practice. An ethnography of one teacher's classroom will be developed to further contribute to understandings of the classroom-level resources in action, including students' experiences and learning. Student learning will be evaluated through student interviews and analyses of student projects. Project outcomes will inform how computer science conceptual knowledge and creative fluency can be developed both for teachers and their students' knowledge and fluency that will be critical for students' future success in work and life.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.