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1. An Exploration of Computational Text Analysis of Co-Design Discourse in a Research-Practice Partnership

   Tan, Mei; Lee, Victor R (April 2023, Digital Commons at USU)

   In combination with contextualized human interpretation, computational text analysis offers a quantitative approach to interrogating the nature of participation and social positioning in discourse. Using meeting transcript data from the development of a co-design research-practice partnership, we examine the roles and forms of participation that contribute to an effective collaboration between a multileveled school system and researcher partners. We apply computational methods to explore the language of co-design and multi-stakeholder perspectives in support of educational improvement science efforts and our theoretical understanding of partnership roles. Results indicate participation patterns align with documented roles in codesign partnerships and highlight the space dedicated to process reflection, context sharing, and logistical coordination. 

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2. Partnerships as Professional Learning: Early Childhood Teaching Assistants’ Role Development and Navigation of Challenges Within a Culturally Responsive Robotics Program

   https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15040514  

   Thompson, Hannah R; Caudle, Lori A; Harper, Frances K; Quinn, Margaret F; Avin, Mary Kate; The_CRRAFT_Partnership, The_CRRAFT Partnership (April 2025, Education Sciences)

   Theory and practice related to computing education with racially/ethnically and linguistically diverse groups of preschoolers remain in nascent stages. Accordingly, early childhood educators both require substantial support when integrating culturally responsive computing into curriculum and instruction and offer valuable perspectives on emerging practices. The purpose of this research study is to explore how educator voice-directed efforts support the implementation of a culturally relevant preschool robotics program through multi-year professional development. Through qualitative analyses, we examined how educator voice, conceptualized as perspectives and participation, guided the direction of professional learning situated within a larger research-practice partnership using design-based research (DBR) methodology. By comparing voice across these sessions, we were able to identify what roles educators assumed within the partnership and how those roles shifted over time. Further, we are able to identify the structural and systemic factors that may have affected their participation and implementation. Findings show a contrast in roles across the different stages of the partnership, suggesting implications for embedding professional learning within broader partnership work as a way to cultivate educator leadership and to realize culturally responsive computing education in sustainable ways. 

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3. The Meaning of “Participation” in Co‐Design with Children and Youth: Relationships, Roles, and Interactions

   https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.432  

   Bowler, Leanne; Wang, Karen; Lopatovska, Irene; Rosin, Mark (October 2021, Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology)

   Abstract The paper examines the concept of participation in co‐design practices with children and youth. Rooted inParticipatory DesignandParticipatory Action Researchframeworks, the paper draws from multi‐disciplinary literature to survey existing definitions of the relationships, roles, and types of human interactions in participatory co‐design. The paper advocates for the active role of children and youth in the co‐design process and presents models of youth participation. The paper highlights the importance of understanding and clearly communicating various degrees of participation, with the ultimate goal of empowering youth and involving them in brainstorming, planning, decision‐making, and interpretation stages of the design process. We introduce the concept ofconscious co‐designand the need to reflect on the design process at a meta level inParticipatory DesignandParticipatory Action Research. 

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4. “Any Other Thoughts?”: Establishing Third Space in a Family-School-University STEM Partnership to Center Voices of Parents and Teachers

   https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2024.2357010  

   Caudle, Lori A; Quinn, Margaret F; Harper, Frances K; Thompson, Hannah R; Rainwater, Tabatha R; Flowers, Charles E (May 2024, Peabody Journal of Education)

   Research practice partnerships (RPPs) that include parents and teachers as cocreators of educational programs provide opportunities to build equitable partnerships yet require university partners to intentionally develop spaces for coconstruction and synergistic interactions. RPPs built within a third space can foster engagement of all partners in the coconstruction of knowledge and practices while assuming roles and navigating partnership work through informal and formal communication. We define a third space as a hybrid, intangible space where inter- and intracultural pedagogies are constructed and shared identity is created from historical and cultural contexts of all partners. This study explored how university partners centered teacher and parent voices in the codesign and piloting phase of a culturally relevant preschool robotics program and facilitated codevelopment within a third space. Through in-depth qualitative coding, we analyzed 6 months of early partnership exchanges to identify how we, as university partners, facilitated discourse and what roles parents and teachers assumed within our third space. Results found that university partners frequently invited participation among partners and used revoicing strategies, and parents and teachers adopted roles as educators and advisors to the program design and implementation. Implications for RPPs include considering how both facilitator-discourse moves and collaborative spaces in which parents and teachers are central to partnership conversations and decisions contribute to successful outcomes. 

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5. A Multiyear Investigation of Student Computational Thinking Concepts, Practices, and Perspectives in an After-School Computing Program

   https://doi.org/10.1177/0735633120905605  

   Mouza, Chrystalla; Pan, Yi-Cheng; Yang, Hui; Pollock, Lori (February 2020, Journal of Educational Computing Research)

   In this work, we examine whether repeated participation in an after-school computing program influenced student learning of computational thinking concepts, practices, and perspectives. We also examine gender differences in learning outcomes. The program was developed through a school–university partnership. Data were collected from 138 students over a 2.5-year period. Data sources included pre–post content assessments of computational concepts related to programming in addition to computational artifacts and interviews with a purposeful sample of 12 participants. Quantitative data were analyzed using statistical methods to identify gains in pre- and post-learning of computational thinking concepts and examine potential gender differences. Interview data were analyzed qualitatively. Results indicated that students made significant gains in their learning of computational thinking concepts and that gains persisted over time. Results also revealed differences in learning of computational thinking concepts among boys and girls both at the beginning and end of the program. Finally, results from student interviews provided insights into the development of computational thinking practices and perspectives over time. Results have implications for the design of after-school computing programs that help broaden participation in computing. 

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