In recent years, Wyoming has developed Computer Science (CS) standards for adoption and use within K-12 classrooms. These standards, adopted in January of 2022, go into effect for the 2022-2023 school year. The University of Wyoming has offered two different computer science week-long professional developments for teachers. Many K-12 teachers do not have a CS background, so developing CS lessons plans can be a challenge in these PDs.This research study is centered around three central questions: 1) To what extent did K-12 teachers integrate computing topics into their PD created lesson plans; 2) How do the teacher perceptions from the two CS PDs compare to each other; and 3) How was the CS PD translated to classroom activity? The first PD opportunity (n=14), was designed to give hands-on learning with CS topics focused on cybersecurity. The second PD opportunity (n=28), focused on integrating CS into existing curricula. At the end of each of these PDs, teacher K-12 teachers incorporated CS topics into their selected existing lesson plan(s). Additionally, a support network was implemented to support excellence in CS education throughout the state. This research study team evaluated the lesson plans developed during each PD event, by using a rubric on each lesson plan. Researchers collected exit surveys from the teachers. Implementation metrics were also gathered, including, how long each lesson lasted, how many students were involved in the implementation, what grades the student belonged to, the basic demographics of the students, the type of course the lesson plan was housed in, if the K-12 teacher reached their intended purpose, what evidence the K-12 teacher had of the success of their lesson plan, data summaries based on supplied evidence, how the K-12 teachers would change the lesson, the challenges and successes they experienced, and samples of student work. Quantitative analysis was basic descriptive statistics. Findings, based on evaluation of 40+ lessons, taught to over 1500 K-12 students, indicate that when assessed on a three point rubric of struggling, emerging, or excellent - certain components (e.g., organization, objectives, integration, activities & assessment, questions, and catch) of K-12 teacher created lessons plans varied drastically. In particular, lesson plan organization, integration, and questions each had a significant number of submissions which were evaluated as "struggling" [45%, 46%, 41%] through interesting integration, objectives, activities & assessment, and catch all saw submissions which were evaluated as "excellent" [43%, 48%, 43%, 48%]. The relationship between existing K-12 policies and expectations surfaces within these results and in combination with other findings leads to implications for the translation of current research practices into pre-collegiate PDs.
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High school science teacher use of planning tools to integrate computational thinking.
In an effort to deepen learning in K-12 science classrooms, there has
been a national movement to integrate computational thinking (CT).
The purpose of this phenomenographic study was to understand
teachers’ perceptions of the function and usefulness of a task analysis
and a decision tree tool designed to help them with integration.
Teachers participated in a long-term professional development to
improve their knowledge and application of CT and then developed
lesson plans integrating CT into science investigations. To assist in the
integration, teachers used the two unique tools. No one lesson plan or
content area addressed all of the CT practices, but all CT practices were
addressed in lessons across all four science areas. All 19 teachers found
that the task analysis tool helped them to shift their lessons to
a student-centered focus and helped them pinpoint data practices
so they could systematically integrate CT practices. However, they
expressed confusion over the amount of detail to document on the
tool. Similarly, teachers found both benefits and barriers to the decision
tree tool. Teachers found the decision tree tool to be useful in
predicting the ways students may misunderstand a data practice and
in reflecting on the level of accomplishment of students. However,
teachers were sometimes uncertain with how to efficiently document
complex student behaviors when engaged with data practices and CT.
Implications for the use of the two lesson planning tools is discussed.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1842090
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10339701
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of science teacher education
- ISSN:
- 1573-1847
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1080/1046560X.2021.1970088
