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The "Computer Science for All" initiative advocates for universal access to computer science (CS) instruction. A key strategy toward this end has been to establish CS content standards outlining what all students should have the opportunity to learn. Standards can support curriculum quality and access to quality CS instruction, but only if they are used to inform curriculum design and instructional practice. Professional learning offered to teachers of CS has typically focused on learning to implement a specific curriculum, rather than deepening understanding of CS concepts. We set out to develop a set of educative resources, formative assessment tools and teacher professional development (PD) sessions to support middle school CS teachers' knowledge of CS standards and standards-aligned formative assessment literacy. Our PD and associated resources focus on five CS standards in the Algorithm and Programming strand and are meant to support teachers using any CS curriculum or programming language. In this experience report, we share what we learned from implementing our standards-based PD with four middle school CS teachers. Teachers initially perceived standards as irrelevant to their teaching but they came to appreciate how a deeper understanding of CS concepts could enhance their instructional practice. Analysis of PD observations and exit surveys, teacher interviews, and teacher responses to a survey assessing CS pedagogical content knowledge demonstrated the complexity of using content standards as a driver of high-quality CS instruction at the middle school level, and reinforced our position that more standards-focused PD is needed.
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Middle School CS Teachers’ Perceptions of Standards-focused PD
Standards can support access to quality instruction. We examine how a standards-focused professional development (PD) approach can supplement traditional curriculum-based CS PD to improve teacher capacity. Using a case study approach, we explore two teachers’ perceptions of standards-focused PD and its effects. Findings indicate that teachers did not initially view standards as essential to their teaching but those who persisted through PD eventually advocated for making standards-focused PD compulsory for all CS teachers.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2010591
- PAR ID:
- 10584649
- Publisher / Repository:
- International Society of the learning Sciences, ICLS 2024 Proceedings
- Date Published:
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 2129-2130
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- https://repository.isls.org/bitstream/1/10898/1/ICLS2024_2129-2130.pdf
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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