Collaborative Research: Unpacking Computational Thinking for Elementary Teachers and Learners

该项目的目标是通过研究教师如何发展与跨学科标准和现有课程相一致的计算思维活动的专门知识，来调查将计算思维(CT)纳入小学课程的情况。该项目通过研究改善科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)教与学的有效专业发展(PD)模式，满足了对科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)素养的迫切需求。利用以资产为基础的方法，该项目将提供机会，通过为教师建立实践社区和设计注入计算机技术的课程，扩大对计算机科学教育的参与。为了确保所有教师都得到必要的支持，以参与日益复杂的新的教学实践，该项目将利用一种合作的教师PD和导师结构，在这种结构中，教师将与同行和项目团队成员密切合作，通过多年的参与来备课、授课和反思课程。这项研究将记录教师如何理解计算机辅助教学，并在课堂上进行这些练习。Discovery Research PreK-12项目(DRK-12)旨在通过研究和开发创新资源、模式和工具，显著提高Pre-K-12学生和教师对STEM的学习和教学。DRK-12计划中的项目建立在STEM教育的基础研究和先前的研究和开发工作的基础上，这些研究和开发工作为拟议的项目提供了理论和经验证明。在四年多的时间里，该项目将直接影响135名教师多年参与专业发展，并间接影响课堂上约12,000名学生。该项目最初将侧重于南卡罗来纳州的学校，特别是农村地区的学校。该项目将以三个主要研究问题为指导：1)五年级前教师如何将CT整合到他们的学科教学中？2)教师在努力实现CT整合的过程中经历了哪些个人学习轨迹？3)教师实施CT灌输课程的障碍和加速器是什么？该项目基于这样一种理念，即当教师充分投入学习周期并有机会建立和加强他们的实践社区时，就会出现增量、可持续和实质性的教师学习。在整个学年和暑期举行的反思性PD课程中，教师将探索、共同设计、实施和改进学生的学习活动，将CT整合到现有的内容领域标准和课程中。CT活动将包括基于标准的教案、评估和补充资源，将提供插入和未插入的组件，以便学生和教师有机会了解在有或没有计算机的情况下计算思维的概念基础。将编写至少120节课程和与核心内容标准对应的相关教学材料，并在项目网站上免费向公众提供。本研究将使用混合方法，记录小学教师开始将计算机辅助教学融入学科教学的轨迹，以及他们将计算机辅助教学融入学科教学所面临的障碍和加速器。通过对叙事访谈、课堂录像、教师反思和教学人工制品的定量调查方法和多模式分析，将分析教师在一段时间内对计算机辅助教学的理解以及在教学中采用新的教学方法的情况。最终，这项研究将产生一套经过经验检验的学习轨迹，可以用来支持教师将计算机辅助教学融入课堂。作为一种扩大实践社区、共享资源和向全国受众传播项目成果的手段，该项目还纳入了一个虚拟PD部分，以支持来自全美代表性和服务不足学校的小学教师获得PD。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 goal of this project is to investigate the integration of computational thinking (CT) into elementary school curricula by studying how teachers develop expertise in integrating CT activities that align with interdisciplinary standards and existing curricula. This project addresses the critical need for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) literacy by investigating effective models of professional development (PD) that improve STEM teaching and learning. Leveraging an asset-based approach, the project will provide opportunities to broaden participation in computer science education through building a community of practice for teachers and designing CT-infused curricula. To ensure that all teachers have the necessary support to participate in new pedagogical practices of increasing complexity, the project will utilize a collaborative teacher PD and mentorship structure in which teachers will work closely with peers and project team members to prepare, teach, and reflect upon lessons through multi-year participation. The research will document how teachers come to understand CT and take up these practices in their classrooms. The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of STEM by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects.Over four years, this project will directly impact 135 teachers in multi-year participation in professional development and approximately 12,000 students indirectly in their classrooms. This project will initially focus on schools in South Carolina, especially in rural districts. The project will be guided by three primary research questions: 1) How do preK-5 teachers integrate CT into their disciplinary teaching?; 2) What are the personal learning trajectories that teachers move through as they work towards CT integration?; 3) What are the barriers and accelerators for teachers’ implementation of CT-infused lessons? This project is grounded in the idea that incremental, sustainable, and substantial teacher learning comes when teachers are fully invested in the cycle of learning and have opportunities to build and strengthen their communities of practice. In reflective PD sessions held throughout the academic year and summer, teachers will explore, co-design, implement, and refine student learning activities that integrate CT into existing content area standards and curricula. The CT activities, which will include standards-based lesson plans, assessments, and supplemental resources, will offer both plugged and unplugged components, so that students and teachers have opportunities to understand the conceptual underpinnings of computational thinking with and without computers. A minimum of 120 lessons and related pedagogical materials mapped to core-content standards will be developed and made freely available to the public on the project website. Using a mixed methods approach, this study will document the trajectories through which elementary teachers move as they begin to integrate CT into disciplinary teaching, as well as barriers and accelerators faced as they integrate CT into disciplinary teaching. Quantitative survey methodologies and multimodal analysis of narrative interviews, classroom video, teacher reflections, and pedagogical artifacts will be used to analyze teachers’ sense making about CT over time and the uptake of new pedagogical approaches in their teaching. Ultimately, this study will produce a set of empirically-tested learning trajectories that can be used to support teachers in integrating CT into their classrooms. As a means of expanding the community of practice, sharing resources, and disseminating project findings to a nationwide audience, the project also incorporates a virtual PD component to support PD access to elementary school teachers from underrepresented and underserved schools across the United States.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.