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1. Teacher Perspectives on a Narrative-Centered Learning Environment to Promote Computationally-Rich Science Learning through Digital Storytelling

   Houchins, J ; Cully, K. ; Boulden, D.C. ; Oliver, K. ; Smith, A. ; Minogue, J. ; Mott, B. ; Elsayed, R. ; Cheuoua, A.H. ; Ringstaff, C. ( March 2021 , Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference)

   null (Ed.)

   Elementary school teachers are increasingly looking to incorporate computational thinking (CT) into their practice. Unlike middle and high school where CT is often integrated into a single subject, elementary school teachers have the unique opportunity to integrate CT across multiple content areas. However, there is little research on the in-platform supports elementary teachers need to accomplish this integration successfully. To investigate this integration, we are iteratively developing a narrative-centered learning environment to facilitate learning outcomes in physical science via the creation of digital narratives that elicit CT. The learning environment enables students to use their science understanding to propose a solution to a problem through story creation using custom narrative-centered programming blocks that set a story’s scene, selects characters, and controls the story’s unfolding dialogue and actions. We have engaged with four upper elementary teachers to gather their perspectives on the usability of the learning environment and input on future design iterations. In this paper, we report results from a focus group study with the teachers that examines their perceptions on whether and how the learning environment facilitates story creation and if the learning environment provides learning supports for integrated science, language arts, and CT. Initial results suggest that teachers found the environment to be engaging and supportive of students’ creativity. 

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2. Orchestrating the Multidisciplinary Implementation of a Narrative-Centered Learning Environment in Upper Elementary Classrooms.

   Vandenberg, J. ; Boulden, D. ; Fox, K. ; Elsayed, R. ; Smith, A. ; Cheuoua, A.H. ; Minogue, J. ; Oliver, K. ; Ringstaff, C. ; Mott, B. ( January 2022 , Proceedings of the International Conference of the Learning Sciences)

   Integration of computational thinking (CT) within STEM subjects is common, although not often at the elementary school level where teachers have minimal experience with CT. We have designed and are refining INFUSECS, a narrative-centered digital learning environment to support upper elementary students’ CT and science knowledge construction as they create digital stories. We used orchestration as our theoretical framework, to examine how elementary teachers planned to approach this multidisciplinary implementation. Through a series of three focus groups, we learned that teachers planned for their students to take notes or utilize other graphic organizers to align the science content with the narrative planning, to engage in collaborative sense-making, and to observe the teacher modeling use of the INFUSECS system. Ultimately, the results have informed the next phase of our research design as we collect teacher and student level data as INFUSECS is utilized in authentic classroom settings. 

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3. Storytelling through Programming in Scratch: Interdisciplinary Integration in the Elementary English Language Arts Classroom

   Pektas, Emrah ; Sullivan, Florence ( July 2021 , Proceedings of the Fifth Asia Pacific Society for Computers in Education International Conference on Computational Thinking and STEM Education,)

   The focus of this paper is to investigate how elementary students learned computer science concepts through storytelling in Scratch. To serve this purpose, we conducted artifact interviews with 4th graders who were engaged with a computer science (CS) integrated module in their English language arts (ELA) class. Students created stories in Scratch with a focus on character traits. The constructionist design of the Scratch tool supports student learning through tinkering, the creation of meaningful artifacts, and through the theatrical metaphor that underlies interface design. This paper explores how two 4th graders demonstrated their CS/CT and ELA knowledge through the design of a Scratch artifact and how Scratch facilitated this interdisciplinary learning. While there have been studies in middle school and in after-school contexts that focus on digital storytelling and writing, there are few papers that examine interdisciplinary integration in the formal school context at the elementary level. 

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4. Elementary Teachers’ Verbal Support of Engineering Integration in an Interdisciplinary Project

   Lilly, S. C. ; McAlister, A. M. ; Chiu, J. L. ( July 2021 , 2021 ASEE Annual Conference proceedings)

   null (Ed.)

   This study investigates how teachers verbally support students to engage in integrated engineering, science, and computer science activities across the implementation of an engineering project. This is important as recent research has focused on understanding how precollege students’ engagement in engineering practices is supported by teachers (Watkins et al., 2018) and the benefits of integrating engineering in precollege classes, including improved achievement in science, ability to engage in science and engineering practices inherent to engineering (i.e., engineering design), and increased awareness of engineering (National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council; Katehi et al., 2009). Further, there is a national emphasis on integrating engineering, science, and computer science practices and concepts in science classrooms (NGSS Lead States, 2013). Yet little research has considered how teachers implement these disciplines together within one classroom, particularly elementary teachers who often have little prior experience in teaching engineering and may need support to integrate engineering design into elementary science classroom settings. In particular, this study explores how elementary teachers verbally support science and computer science concepts and practices to be implicitly and explicitly integrated into an engineering project by implementing support intended by curricular materials and/or adding their own verbal support. Implicit use of integration included students engaging in integrated practices without support to know that they were doing so; explicit use of integration included teachers providing support for students to know how and why they were integrating disciplines. Our research questions include: (1) To what extent did teachers provide implicit and explicit verbal support of integration in implementation versus how it was intended in curricular materials? (2) Does this look different between two differently-tracked class sections? Participants include two fifth-grade teachers who co-led two fifth-grade classes through a four-week engineering project. The project focused on redesigning school surfaces to mitigate water runoff. Teachers integrated disciplines by supporting students to create computational models of underlying scientific concepts to develop engineering solutions. One class had a larger proportion of students who were tracked into accelerated mathematics; the other class had a larger proportion of students with individualized educational plans (IEPs). Transcripts of whole class discussion were analyzed for instances that addressed the integration of disciplines or supported students to engage in integrated activities. Results show that all instances of integration were implicit for the class with students in advanced mathematics while most were explicit for the class with students with IEPs. Additionally, support was mainly added by the teachers rather than suggested by curricular materials. Most commonly, teachers added integration between computer science and engineering. Implications of this study are an important consideration for the support that teachers need to engage in the important, but challenging, work of integrating science and computer science practices through engineering lessons within elementary science classrooms. Particularly, we consider how to assist teachers with their verbal supports of integrated curricula through engineering lessons in elementary classrooms. This study then has the potential to significantly impact the state of knowledge in interdisciplinary learning through engineering for elementary students. 

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5. Designing a framework for teachers' integration of computational thinking into elementary science

   https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21888  

   Cabrera, Lautaro ; Ketelhut, Diane Jass ; Mills, Kelly ; Killen, Heather ; Coenraad, Merijke ; Byrne, Virginia L. ; Plane, Jandelyn Dawn ( July 2023 , Journal of Research in Science Teaching)

   As professional science becomes increasingly computational, researchers and educators are advocating for the integration of computational thinking (CT) into science education. Researchers and policymakers have argued that CT learning opportunities should begin in elementary school and span across the K‐12 grades. While researchers and policymakers have specified how students should engage in CT for science learning, the success of CT integration ultimately depends on how elementary teachers implement CT in their science lessons. This new demand for teachers who can integrate CT has created a need for effective conceptual tools that teacher educators and professional development designers can use to develop elementary teachers' understanding and operationalization of CT for their classrooms. However, existing frameworks for CT integration have limitations. Existing frameworks either overlook the elementary grades, conceptualize CT in isolation and not integrated into science, and/or have not been tested in teacher education contexts. After reviewing existing CT integration frameworks and detailing an important gap in the science teacher education literature, we present our framework for the integration of CT into elementary science education, with a special focus on how to use this framework with teachers. Situated within our design‐based research study, we (a) explain the decision‐making process of designing the framework; (b) describe the pedagogical affordances and challenges it provided as we implemented it with a cohort of pre‐ and in‐service teachers; (c) provide suggestions for its use in teacher education contexts; and (d) theorize possible pathways to continue its refinement.

    

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