This paper reports findings from the efforts of a university-based research team as they worked with middle school educators within formal school structures to infuse computer science principles and computational thinking practices. Despite the need to integrate these skills within regular classroom practices to allow all students the opportunity to learn these essential 21st Century skills, prior practice has been to offer these learning experiences outside of mainstream curricula where only a subset of students has access. We have sought to leverage elements of the research-practice partnership framework to achieve our project objectives of integrating computer science and computational thinking within middle science classrooms. Utilizing a qualitative approach to inquiry, we present narratives from three case schools, report on themes across work sites, and share recommendations to guide other practitioners and researchers who are looking to engage in technology-related initiatives to impact the lives of middle grades students.
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Finding the Low Tech, High Impact Solution to Computational Thinking Instruction
Key ideas:
Computational thinking and computer science can be taught to students in primary grades using low tech tools.
Teacher leaders from rural Appalachia conducted a professional development training that supported other educators in their community.
Learning computational thinking and computer science in the primary grades is important for setting a foundation that can be built upon throughout middle and high school.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2219401
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10465541
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Digital Promise Blog https://digitalpromise.org/2023/08/22/finding-the-low-tech-high-impact-solution-to-computational-thinking-instruction/
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
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- The DOI is not currently available.
