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Background: While advocates for integrating Computational Thinking (CT) into existing K12 classrooms have acknowledged and aimed to address various barriers to implementation, we contend that a more foundational issue—tensions between the epistemology of computing and those of existing disciplines—has largely been overlooked. Studies of contact between heterogeneous disciplinary perspectives in both pedagogical and real world professional settings point to other risks, and harms, that educators may need to consider as they attempt to integrate CT into their teaching. As such, designing for integrated CT pedagogies does not simply require addressing functional problems such as teacher professional learning and limited classroom time, but rather implicates complex epistemological navigations. Objective: This manuscript explores epistemic tensions between Computational Thinking (CT) and K12 humanities and arts disciplines and possibilities for their resolution. Method: Based on a Delphi study with 43 experts from three disciplines—language arts, social studies, and arts—as they engaged in 20 hours of focus group conversations exploring potential approaches to integrating CT these disciplines, analysis focused on identifying perceived epistemic tensions that can arise in the context of instruction and directions for their resolution. Findings: We found 5 epistemic tensions that are explored in detail: contextual reductionism, procedural reductionism, epistemic chauvinism, threats to epistemic identities, and epistemic convergence, as well as a number of potential directions for navigating them. Implications: The study’s findings provide insights that bear on both scholarship and pedagogical design aimed at promoting substantive interdisciplinary learning with CT, and, critically, navigating potential tensions that can arise within it.
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“These two worlds are antithetical": Epistemic tensions in integrating computational thinking in K12 humanities and arts.
While advocates for interdisciplinary learning have voiced risks of separating out disciplinary learning into discrete silos, studies of contact between heterogeneous disciplinary perspectives in both pedagogical and real world professional settings point to other risks that educators may need to consider. As such, designing for interdisciplinary learning does not simply require addressing functional problems such as teacher professional learning and time in the school day, but rather implicates complex epistemological navigations that must be taken into account. This manuscript explores potential epistemic tensions between Computational Thinking (CT) and humanities and arts disciplines based on a Delphi study with experts from three humanities disciplines—language arts, social studies, and arts. We analyzed how experts talked about epistemic tensions between CT and their disciplines and how they saw possible resolutions for those tensions. Our analysis found 5 epistemic tensions: contextual reductionism, procedural reductionism, epistemic chauvinism, threats to epistemic identities, and epistemic convergence.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1933933
- PAR ID:
- 10443565
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Proceedings of International Society of the Learning Sciences.
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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