Increasing Massachusetts Partnerships for Advancing Computational Thinking in Pre-K-5 Classrooms

该项目旨在扩大学前五年级学生对标准一致和文化响应的计算思维（CT）的参与。研究小组将建立一个研究-实践伙伴关系（RPP），共同规划和设计多地区的努力，以开发符合标准和文化响应的专业发展（PD），将CT整合到PK-5课程和教学中。服务的人群是马萨诸塞州中部的学前五年级学生和教师。该项目将把一个由研究人员、政策制定者、专业发展教练和教育工作者组成的多元化团队联系起来，他们在幼儿园至五年级前的CT教学方面拥有不同的专业知识。该项目遵循有效伙伴关系的指导方针，以基于设计的实施研究（DBIR）和参与式研究为指导，分为四个阶段：1)在RPP内部建立关系。2)发现实践中存在的问题，进行校内调研。3)在创建-测试-修改已识别问题的解决方案的迭代过程中共同创建PD。4)传播结果并维持RPP。研究的核心问题是，是什么因素促成和阻碍了高等教育机构、学区和马萨诸塞州中小学教育部之间的成功合作，以解决在幼儿园至五年级的课堂上，围绕文化和语言响应的CT教学和学习的实践问题。RPP将对来自农村、城市和城镇地区的学前班和小学教师以及行政人员在向不同人群教授CT时所面临的具体挑战达成共识。这样的知识库对于发展以CT为重点的PD至关重要，它使教师能够以无障碍和有意义的方式将CT纳入课程。项目成员将使用互惠互利的RPP框架和系统和重复询问的DBIR方法，识别和研究实践中的问题以及在其背景下可能的解决方案和策略。对这些原则和过程的分析将增加关于区域合作伙伴能力建设的实施研究的知识体系，以识别和解决在文化和语言上对幼儿园-五年级前的CT整合有反应的PD的实践问题。该项目由CS for All: Research and RPPs项目资助。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。

This project aims to broaden pre-K-5 students' participation in standards-aligned and culturally responsive computational thinking (CT). The research team will establish a research-practice partnership (RPP) that will co-plan and co-design multidistrict efforts to develop standards-aligned and culturally responsive professional development (PD) that integrates CT into the PK-5 curriculum and instruction. The populations served are pre-K-5 students and teachers in Central Massachusetts. The project will connect a diverse team of researchers, policymakers, professional development coaches, and educators with diverse expertise on pre-K-5 CT teaching and learning. Following guidelines for effective partnerships and guided by Design-Based Implementation Research (DBIR) and Participatory Research, the project has four phases: 1) Build relationships within the RPP. 2) Identify problems of practice, and conduct in-school research. 3) Co-create PD in an iterative process of creating-testing-revising solutions to the identified problems. 4) Disseminate results and sustain the RPP.The central research question asks what factors enable and hinder successful collaborations between institutions of higher education, school districts, and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to address problems of practice around culturally and linguistically responsive CT teaching and learning in pre-K-5 classrooms. The RPP will develop shared understanding about the specific challenges that pre-K and elementary teachers and administrators from rural, urban, and town districts face concerning teaching CT to diverse populations. Such a knowledge base is essential to the development of CT-focused PD to empower teachers to integrate CT into curricula in accessible and meaningful ways. Using the RPP frameworks of mutualism and DBIR approaches of systematic and repeated inquiry, project members will identify and research problems of practice and possible solutions and strategies in their context. Analyses of the principles and processes will add to the body of knowledge about implementation research on building capacity of RPPs to identify and address problems of practice on culturally and linguistically responsive PD on CT integration for pre-K-5. This project is funded by the CS for All: Research and RPPs program.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.