Supporting computational thinking across grade levels and content areas in K-5 education

计算思维（computer thinking， CT）指的是计算机科学中通常用于解决大型复杂问题的一组思维过程。计算思维本身不需要计算机，可以在广泛的环境中应用，使其成为小学课堂实施的理想选择。这一研究实践者伙伴关系（RPP）研究了20名K-5教师如何将CT整合到不同内容领域的课程中。了解不同年级和不同内容领域CT应用的差异，可以确定为小学教师准备实施CT的最佳实践。此外，RPP研究了如何将CT作为教师跨内容领域教授语言的资源，使内容和语言都得到重视和整合。CT的这种使用是新颖的，使研究人员能够探索如何在多语言环境中使用CT进行教学。该项目旨在了解新手CT教师如何转变为能够支持新教师的CT领导者。该项目的一个主要贡献是发展教师领导网络和资源，可以持续传播这些创新的教学实践，以提高所有K-5教室学生的学习体验。所有课程和教学资源都以英语和西班牙语广泛提供给全国各地的教师。该项目影响了许多受众对CT的了解，包括职前和在职教师、地区行政人员和研究人员。通过支持教师就自己和学生在CT学习中的角色做出决定，RPP提出了教师CT学习是一个自我可持续的过程的概念，将教师所知道的与他们如何支持将这些知识传播给其他教师相结合。本研究主要围绕以下三个猜想展开：(1)随着年级水平和内容复杂性的增加，CT概念变得更加交织；(2) CT可以作为一种促进语言学习的教学实践；(3) CT新手可以成为教师领导，支持他们所在地区的新教师。调查这三个猜想的计划分三年进行。在第一年，建立的RPP正在修订通过以前的奖励制定的CT专业发展系列，并正在招募一批新的教师。在第二年，RPP老师带领新老师完成了将CT融入现有核心内容课程的过程。在三年级，一组新的教师领导支持其他人继续设计，开发，交付，反思和修改CT课程。对课程计划、反馈、修订和反思进行分析，以确定CT在年级和内容领域之间的变化。这些人工制品，以及视频记录和课堂教学的观察，被用来研究CT在哪里发展成为一种有效的内容中立的教学实践，支持语言发展。通过序贯设计定量调查，数据为定性跟踪反思、观察和访谈中提出的问题提供信息。采用混合方法对数据进行分析，以确定单语和双语课堂的趋势，以确保全面了解CT的学习、使用和整合，以及如何广泛传播这些实践。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。

Computational thinking (CT) refers to a set of thought processes typically employed in computer science to solve large complex problems. Computational thinking itself does not require a computer and can be applied across a broad array of contexts, making it ideal for implementation in elementary classrooms. This CSforAll research practitioner partnership (RPP) examines how 20 K-5 teachers integrate CT into lessons across content areas. Understanding how the application of CT differs across grade levels and content areas makes it possible to identify best practices for preparing elementary teachers to implement CT. Additionally, the RPP investigates how CT can be used as a resource for teachers to teach language across content areas in such a way that both content and language are foregrounded and integrated. This use of CT is novel and enables researchers to explore how CT can be used to teach in multilingual contexts. The project seeks to understand how CT teacher novices can transition into CT leaders that can support new teachers. A major contribution of the project is development of a network of teacher leaders, as well as resources, that can sustain the dissemination of these innovative teaching practices to enhance the learning experience of all students in K-5 classrooms. All lessons and instructional resources are widely available in both English and Spanish to teachers across the nation. The project impacts what multiple audiences know about CT, including pre-service and in-service teachers, district administrators, and researchers. By supporting teachers as they make decisions regarding their own and their students’ roles in learning CT, the RPP advances a conceptualization of teacher learning of CT as a self-sustainable process by combining what teachers know with how they can support disseminating this knowledge to other teachers. This research study is centered around three conjectures: (1) CT concepts become more intertwined as grade-level and complexity of content increase; (2) CT can be used as an instructional practice that facilitates the learning of language; (3) CT novices can become teacher leaders that support new teachers in their districts. The plan to investigate these three conjectures is split across three years. During Year 1 the established RPP is revising the CT professional development series developed through a previous award and is onboarding a new cohort of teachers. During Year 2, the RPP teachers lead the new teachers through the process of integrating CT into existing core-content lessons. In Year 3, a new set of teacher leaders support others as they continue designing, developing, delivering, reflecting on, and revising CT lessons. Lesson plans, feedback, revisions and reflections are analyzed to determine how CT changes across grades and content areas. These artifacts, along with video recordings and observations of lesson delivery, are used to study where CT is evolving as an effective content-neutral instructional practice that supports language development. Through a sequential design quantitative survey, data inform the questions asked in qualitive follow-up reflections, observations and interviews. Using a mixed methods approach, data are analyzed to identify trends in both monolingual and bilingual classrooms to ensure a comprehensive perspective for understanding the learning, use, and incorporation of CT and how these practices can be disseminated widely. 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.