Effective and equitable CS teaching in classrooms is contingent on teachers' high-levels of self-efficacy in CS as well as a robust understanding of equity issues in CS classrooms. To this end, our study examined the influence of a professional development (PD) course, Teaching Exploring Computer Science (TECS), on promoting teacher self-efficacy and equity awareness in CS education. This nine-week PD was offered in a hybrid format, delivering on-line and face-to-face classes to high school teachers across various disciplines who served under-represented students. The participants completed a selfefficacy survey focusing on their ability to teach ECS, both before and after the course. Results showed that teachers' selfefficacy in the content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge of ECS significantly increased as a result of taking the course. We also evaluated teacher's understanding of the equity issues by conducting a content analysis of their reflection essays written at the end of the course. Four major themes emerged from the content analysis, highlighting the impact of equitable practices on CS participation. This research demonstrates the role of a professional development course in promoting teachers' self-efficacy beliefs in teaching CS and their understanding of the equity issues and presents tools for assessing teachers' development in these areas.
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Evaluating Computer Science Professional Development for Teachers in the United States
Teacher professional development (PD) is a key factor in enabling teachers to develop mindsets and skills that positively impact students. It is also a key step in building capacity for computer science (CS) education in K-12 schools. Successful CS PD meets primary learning goals and enable teachers to grow their self-efficacy, asset and equity mindset, and interest in teaching CS. As part of a larger study, we conducted a secondary analysis of CS PD evaluation instruments (). We found that instruments across providers were highly dissimilar with limited data collected for measures related to teacher learning, which has implications for future K-12 CS education. Likewise, the instruments were limited in being connected to student learning and academic growth. As a way to enable PD providers to construct measures that align with known impacting factors, we offer recommendations for collecting demographic data and measuring program satisfaction, content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, growth and equity mindset, and self-efficacy. We also highlight questions for PD providers to consider when constructing their evaluation, including reflecting community values, the goals of the PD, and how the data collected will be used to continually improve CS programs.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2039175
- PAR ID:
- 10308711
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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