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Incorporating computational thinking (CT) ideas into core subjects, such as mathematics and science, is one way of bringing early computer science (CS) education into elementary school. Minimal research has explored how teachers can translate their knowledge of CT into practice to create opportunities for their students to engage in CT during their math and science lessons. Such information can support the creation of quality professional development experiences for teachers. We analyzed how eight elementary teachers created opportunities for their students to engage in four CT practices (abstraction, decomposition, debugging, and patterns) during unplugged mathematics and science activities. We identified three strategies used by these teachers to create CT opportunities for their students: framing, prompting, and inviting reflection. Further, we grouped teachers into four profiles of implementation according to how they used these three strategies. We call the four profiles (1) presenting CT as general problem-solving strategies, (2) using CT to structure lessons, (3) highlighting CT through prompting, and (4) using CT to guide teacher planning. We discuss the implications of these results for professional development and student experiences.
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Computational Thinking: A Tale of Debugging
This exploratory research analyzes the video-recorded data of four elementary-grade teachers debugging a school tour activity while utilizing a programable robot, Photon. This summer’s professional development session on computational thinking (CT) integration was four hours long and was focused on debugging as a key CT component. The results indicate that teachers worked collaboratively to debug their way through errors using different strategies, such as step-by-step execution or incremental code development.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2331742
- PAR ID:
- 10557847
- Editor(s):
- Lindgren, R; Asino, T I; Kyza, E A; Looi, C K; Keifert, D T; Suárez, E
- Publisher / Repository:
- International Society of the Learning Sciences [ISLS]
- Date Published:
- ISSN:
- 1819-0138
- ISBN:
- 979-8-9906980-0-0
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 2445-2446
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- computational thinking professional learning debugging
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Buffalo, NY
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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