A Research-Practice Partnership for Developing Computational Thinking through Linguistically and Culturally Relevant CS Curriculum in Middle School

德克萨斯大学埃尔帕索分校（UTEP）与埃尔帕索独立学区（EPISD）将建立一个研究实践伙伴关系（RPP），以规划和试点一个语言和文化相关的中学计算机科学课程，目标是扩大新兴双语（或英语学习者）学生和拉丁美洲/a学生在计算机科学（CS）教育中的参与。该计划将集中发展一个可有效协助教师使用双语和文化相关工具的RPP，以发展EPISD中学生的计算思维技能。通过汇集文化相关的CS教育和双语教学的承诺，该项目将寻求一个创新的解决方案，在CS教育和职业中，拉丁美洲人/OS和新兴双语学生/英语学习者的代表性不足的问题。它通过研究实践伙伴关系来实现这一目标，确保对教育从业者需求的响应，并促进先前NSF资助的研究与现有课堂课程和实践的整合。该项目，连同未来的扩展工作，可能可以作为一个模型，在至少两个现有的大型网络-NSF资助的国家CAHSI包括联盟和新技术网络-加强努力，以扩大参与和参与的代表性不足的学生，特别是对CS。通过在60 CAHSI机构传播，拟议的语言和文化相关的方法可能有助于扩大西班牙裔和新兴双语参与远远超出埃尔帕索地区。由香港资源增值计划合作发展的课程，亦会透过全国新科技网络的PBL课程库发放，供全国其他新界北学校使用。将文化上敏感的CT/CS教学和语言上敏感的双语教学相结合的模式，有可能大大推进努力，以达到，支持，该项目的基础是研究表明，文化相关的CS教育是扩大少数民族学生参与CS的一种有前途的方法，双语教育是一种成功的方法通过采取与文化和语言相关的方法，为新兴双语和拉丁裔学生提供CT/CS教学，以提高新兴双语（或英语学习者）学生的参与和学业成绩。具体而言，该项目开发了一个RPP，以计划，共同设计，试点和完善双语（西班牙语和英语）课程模块，并采用现有的NSF资助的文化相关的基于游戏的学习平台Sol y Agua（Akbar等人，2018年），使用当地熟悉的埃尔帕索地区的地理和生态来教授计算思维。该项目将解决以下研究问题：（1）教师以何种方式和在何种程度上表现出对计算思维原则和组件以及双语原则和教学策略的理解？(2)教师如何使用Sol y Agua基于游戏的学习平台实施语言和文化相关的PBL模块？和（3）在何种方式和在何种程度上，学生表现出学习的计算思维的原则和组成部分，在语言和文化相关的PBL模块使用溶胶Y水参与期间和之后？该项目将部署一系列数据收集工作，包括教师知识的前后测试和教学、观察、教室录像、学生书面评估以及软件工具Sol y Agua的语言跟踪数据。研究团队将使用定性数据分析技术以及数据挖掘和分类来分析数据。该奖项反映了NSF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。

The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), together with El Paso Independent School District (EPISD), will develop a research-practice partnership (RPP) to plan and pilot a linguistically and culturally relevant computer science curriculum in middle school with the goal of broadening the participation of emergent bilingual (or English learner) students and Latino/a students in computer science (CS) education. The project will focus on the development of an RPP that can effectively help teachers use bilingual and culturally relevant tools to develop the computational thinking (CT) skills of middle school students in EPISD. By bringing together the promise of culturally relevant CS education and of dual language instruction, this project will seek an innovative solution to the problem of underrepresentation of Latinas/os and emergent bilingual students/English learners in CS education and careers. It does so through a research-practice partnership that ensures responsiveness to the needs of educational practitioners and facilitates the integration of prior NSF-funded research with existing classroom curriculum and practice. The project, together with future scaling work, potentially can serve as a model in at least two existing large networks-the NSF-funded National CAHSI INCLUDES Alliance and the New Tech Network-strengthening efforts in both to broaden participation and engagement of underrepresented students, with particular focus on CS. Through dissemination across the 60 CAHSI institutions, the proposed linguistically and culturally relevant approach could potentially contribute to broadening Hispanic and emergent bilingual participation much beyond the El Paso region. The curriculum developed collaboratively by the RPP would also be disseminated through the national New Tech Network repository of PBL curriculum, accessible to other NTN schools across the country. The model of integrating culturally responsive CT/CS instruction and linguistically responsive dual language instruction has potential to significantly advance efforts to reach, support, and engage more Hispanic youth in CS learning and careers.The project builds upon research showing that culturally relevant CS education is a promising approach to broadening participation of minoritized students in CS and that dual language bilingual education is a successful approach to improving participation and academic achievement of emergent bilingual (or English learner) students by taking a culturally and linguistically relevant approach to CT/CS instruction for emergent bilingual and Latina/o students. Specifically, the project develops an RPP to plan, co-design, pilot, and refine a curriculum module that is bilingual (Spanish and English) and employs an existing NSF-funded culturally-relevant game-based learning platform, Sol y Agua (Akbar, et al., 2018), that uses locally familiar El Paso area geography and ecology to teach computational thinking. The project will address the following research questions: (1) In what ways and to what extent do teachers demonstrate understanding of computational thinking principles and components and of dual language principles and instructional strategies? (2) How do teachers implement a linguistically and culturally relevant PBL module using Sol y Agua game-based learning platform? And (3) In what ways and to what extent do students demonstrate learning of computational thinking principles and components during and after participating in a linguistically and culturally relevant PBL module using Sol Y Agua? The project will deploy a range of data collection including pre-post testing of teachers' knowledge and implementation of instruction, observation, video recordings of classrooms, and student written assessments and language tracking data from the software tool Sol y Agua. The research team will analyze the data using qualitative data analysis techniques as well as data mining and classification.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.