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Indigenous communities remain among the most underrepresented groups in computing and STEM fields, facing systemic barriers to equitable participation in computer science (CS) education. This study examines how Indigenous-serving teachers, through a sustained professional development (PD) program, design and implement culturally responsive computing (CRC) curricula in Indigenous-serving schools. Guided by the research question: How does sustained CS professional development inform the design of culturally responsive computing curricula by experienced CS teachers in Indigenous-serving schools? We employed a natural language processing (NLP) data fusion approach that integrates text mining and qualitative thematic analysis to investigate how teachers incorporate Indigenous knowledge into computing instruction. Our findings reveal three emergent themes in teacher learning and lesson design: Creating opportunities to access culture through computation, Leveraging Research and Critical Thinking Skills to Critically Engage Students with Computing, and Reflection, refinement, and professional growth through ongoing collaboration. These themes underscore the impact of CRC on bridging cultural traditions with computing, fostering engagement, and enhancing Indigenous students’ sense of belonging in CS. By supporting teachers in developing culturally relevant lessons that integrate storytelling, traditional arts, and computational thinking, this research contributes to the broader discourse on inclusive CS education. This study informs future efforts to expand Indigenous student participation in computing by highlighting the role of culturally sustaining pedagogy in professional development and curriculum design.
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Centering teacher and parent voice to realize culturally relevant computational thinking in early childhood
The specific mechanisms by which teachers and parents can provide culturally relevant opportunities for computational thinking for racially/ethnically and linguistically diverse groups of preschoolers remain unknown. Accordingly, the purpose of this research is to examine how PreK parent and teacher voice directed efforts to realize a culturally relevant computing program. We drew data sources from a subsample of design-based research meetings in which partners collaborated to co-develop the first iteration of the program. Using qualitative analysis, we examined how parent voice and teacher voice, conceptualized as perspectives and participation, influenced theories of culturally responsive computing and computational thinking in early childhood education and the translation of theory into practice in classroom and home settings. Findings showed that connecting powerful ideas from computational thinking, namely algorithms and problem solving (e.g., debugging), to familiar activities and experiences served as a powerful entry point. Yet, differences arose in how teachers and parents conceptualized culturally relevant computing and made connections to familiar routines. We discuss what can be learned from parent voice in regards to bolstering children's self-expression, access to increasingly complex computational thinking tasks, and opportunities for learning cultural and community values through computing.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2031394
- PAR ID:
- 10479144
- Publisher / Repository:
- Science Direct
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Early childhood research quarterly
- ISSN:
- 1873-7706
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Porter, Leo; Brown, Neil; Morrison, Briana; Montero, Calkin (Ed.)Indigenous communities remain significantly underrepresented in computer science (CS) and STEM fields, facing persistent barriers such as limited access to resources, infrastructure, and culturally relevant instruction. This study investigated how educators serving Indigenous populations designed and implemented culturally responsive computing (CRC)[2] curricula within a long-term professional development program grounded in a design-based research framework. The study examined how sustained, collaborative support enabled educators to effectively integrate Indigenous cultural knowledge, values, and practices into computer science education. Seven secondary teachers who work in schools in Arizona and New Mexico with over 90% Native American enrollment participated in a two-year professional development program called Let’s Talk Code Teaching Fellow. The program consisted of twelve online modules,weekly virtual meetings, in-personworkshops, and conference participation[3]. Following the DBR framework [1], teachers engaged in iterative cycles of lesson design, implementation, and revision, creating and teaching three culturally relevant computer science lessons. They received feedback from fellow teachers and research teams, allowing them to improve the connection between computing and cultural relevance in their lessons. The study employed a mixed-methods approach to data collection and analysis. Qualitative data included 14 finalized lesson plans, teacher reflections, teacher interviews, and classroom observation notes, which were thematically analyzed to identify common instructional practices and challenges, as well as strategies that connect culture and computing. Our findings showed that teachers sustained local culture by integrating Indigenous languages and art and innovative computing tools such as Scratch, micro: bit, and Sphero robots into their computing lessons. Teachers reported an increase in their confidence in computer science instruction following the long-term PD and benefited from a strong professional learning community.more » « less
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Abstract Increasing access to computational ideas and practices is one important reason to integrate computational thinking (CT) in science classrooms. While integrating CT into science classrooms broadens exposure to computing, it may not be enough to ensure equitable participation in the science classroom. Equitable participation is crucial because providing students with an environment in which they are able to fully engage and participate in science and computing practices empowers students to learn and continue pursuing CT and science. To foreground equitable participation in CT‐integrated curricula, we undertook a research project in which researchers and teachers examined teacher conceptualizations of equitable participation and how teachers design for equitable participation by modifying a lesson that introduces computational modeling in science. The following research questions guided the study: (1) What are teachers' conceptualizations of equitable participation? (2) How do teachers design for equitable participation through co‐design of a CT‐integrated unit? Our findings suggest that teachers conceptualized and designed for equitable participation in the context of a CT‐integrated curriculum across three primary dimensions: accessibility, inclusion, and relevancy. Our contributions to the field of science teaching and learning are twofold: (1) obtaining an initial understanding of how teachers think about and design for equitable participation is crucial in order to support teachers in their pursuit of creating equitable learning experiences for CT and science learners, and (2) our findings show that we can study teacher conceptualizations and their design choices by examining specific modifications to a CT‐integrated science curriculum. Implications are discussed.more » « less
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