skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


Title: The Sol y Agua RPP: A Bilingual and Culturally Responsive Approach to Introduce Computational Thinking in Middle School
The Sol y Agua researcher-practitioner partnership (RPP) project introduces computational thinking (CT) in the middle school of the Paso del Norte region using a linguistically and culturally responsive approach. At the core of this RPP is the Sol y Agua game, a bilingual, culturally- and environmentally-relevant educational game developed at the University of Texas at El Paso to introduce computing and STEM topics in middle school. The Sol y Agua RPP includes some critical areas for a successful RPP, including partnership building and the focus on a linguistically and culturally-responsive pedagogy and content development. We describe our approach to build a sustainable RPP, incorporating bilingual pedagogy, and integrating CT through a culturally- and environmentally-relevant game as part of our RPP experience.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1923599
PAR ID:
10376513
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
Association for Computing Machinery
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Proceedings of the 53rd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 2 (SIGCSE 2022)
Page Range / eLocation ID:
1096 to 1096
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; et al (, IEEE)
    There is a national need to increase the number of minority students entering STEM fields with essential computing skills. To increase minority students’ interest and engagement in computing, a researcher-practitioner partnership between the University of Texas at El Paso and the El Paso Independent School District, developed and implemented a culturally and linguistically responsive curriculum and pedagogy to introduce computational thinking (CT) in two middle schools across different subject areas in a borderland region. The curriculum leveraged the Sol y Agua game – a bilingual, culturally-responsive game designed to engage students of this region in CT. This paper describes the process and initial findings of this project. The quantitative data from in-game analyses show that students utilized the language change feature to switch from English to Spanish more frequently than the other way – highlighting the need for educational platforms relatable to students through language, environment, and cultural context. Analyses of the qualitative data indicate that while teachers/team members understood CT and translanguaging concepts and taught lesson units that provided opportunities to practice both, CT and translanguaging were largely implicit in the curriculum. In collaborative analyses of these patterns, teachers described additional supports that would help them to make CT instruction and translanguaging strategies more explicit in the content and pedagogy, highlighting the need for systematic, targeted integration of these concepts. 
    more » « less
  2. ; ; ; (, Proceedings of the 2024 on RESPECT Annual Conference)
    To broaden indigenous students' participation in Computer Science (CS) education, we conducted a research practitioner partnership (RPP) project, where teachers were taught the CS principles lessons offered by Code.org and asked to integrate mobile application development within their current courses. Additionally, modules and guidance were provided on culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP), and an in-classroom implementation of a five-day lesson plan was co-created via a participatory approach. In this experience report, we describe the RPP organization and early findings from our collected teachers' pre/post survey, lesson plans, projects, and students' pre/post survey. The positive outcomes from our RPP project provided valuable teacher learning experiences and actionable, culturally responsive computing lesson plans for the indigenous community. 
    more » « less
  3. ; (, IEEE)
    Practitioners are introducing culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) into computer science (CS) education in increasing amounts. Researchers, however, may be missing a vital opportunity to accumulate knowledge about these important equity-focused practices. CRP and UDL are complex, and researchers are likely measuring them in incompatible ways. Our research-practice partnership (RPP), through a project called "Time4CSforALL," is tackling this challenge by using a component-based research approach with clearly specified language to study and communicate about CRP and UDL in elementary computer science education. This session will focus on effectively communicating and growing knowledge about CRP and UDL, particularly in today's cultural climate. 
    more » « less
  4. ; ; ; (, London Review of Education)
    This year-long case study involved the professional development of teachers in New York City elementary schools, who co-designed with researchers culturally relevant robot-coding mathematics activities to advance teachers’ understanding of culturally responsive mathematics pedagogy. Study findings indicated that co-designing culturally relevant robot-coding mathematics activities led to the development of teachers’ cultural competencies, deeper understanding of culturally responsive mathematics pedagogy and their students’ cultures, stronger agency, and ability to integrate culturally responsive pedagogy into their mathematics curriculum. Teachers also began to perceive the robot as a mathematical tool rather than a motivational add-on, and started to develop their own cultural lens while focusing less on school structure constraints. The study emphasises the importance of engaging teachers as active co-designers of culturally relevant coding curriculum in professional development programmes. 
    more » « less
  5. ; ; (, Annual Conference on Research in Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT))
    Strong, equitable research practice partnerships (RPPs) center both researcher and practitioner perspectives and priorities. These RPPs facilitate rigorous, relevant research that practitioners can use to improve program implementation. Our project, The Maker Partnership, is an RPP focused on building knowledge about how to help elementary level teachers integrate computer science (CS) and computational thinking (CT) into their regular science classes using maker pedagogy. In this experience report, we use the Henrich et al. framework to assess the Maker Partnership’s effectiveness along five dimensions and share practical advice and lessons learned. This paper contributes to the CS and RPP literature by providing insight into how an RPP can address critical problems of practice in computer science education. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email