In this brief paper, we will share preliminary results of a study of how elementary-school teachers take up computational thinking (CT) ideas and incorporate them into their mathematics and science teaching. We describe the teachers’ school contexts, the professional development experiences in which they engaged, and our preliminary analyses of how they used computational thinking within their enacted lessons. In brief, the seven teachers in this study exhibited three patterns of implementation: (1) using computational thinking to guide their own planning and thinking; (2) using computational thinking to structure their lessons; and (3) presenting computational thinking concepts to students as general problem solving strategies.
Teacher implementation profiles for integrating computational thinking into elementary mathematics and science instruction.
Incorporating computational thinking (CT) ideas into core subjects, such as mathematics and science, is one way of bringing early computer science (CS) education into elementary school. Minimal research has explored how teachers can translate their knowledge of CT into practice to create opportunities for their students to engage in CT during their math and science lessons. Such information can support the creation of quality professional development experiences for teachers. We analyzed how eight elementary teachers created opportunities for their students to engage in four CT practices (abstraction, decomposition, debugging, and patterns) during unplugged mathematics and science activities. We identified three strategies used by these teachers to create CT opportunities for their students: framing, prompting, and inviting reflection. Further, we grouped teachers into four profiles of implementation according to how they used these three strategies. We call the four profiles (1) presenting CT as general problem-solving strategies, (2) using CT to structure lessons, (3) highlighting CT through prompting, and (4) using CT to guide teacher planning. We discuss the implications of these results for professional development and student experiences.
- Award ID(s):
- 1738677
- Publication Date:
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10183083
- Journal Name:
- Education and information technologies
- Volume:
- 25
- Issue:
- 4
- Page Range or eLocation-ID:
- 3161--3188
- ISSN:
- 1573-7608
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
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- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-020-10115-5
