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Most attention in K-12 artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) education has been given to having youths train models, with much less attention to the equally important testing of models when creating machine learning applications. Testing ML applications allows for the evaluation of models against predictions and can help creators of applications identify and address failure and edge cases that could negatively impact user experiences. We investigate how testing each other's projects supported youths to take perspective about functionality, performance, and potential issues in their own projects. We analyzed testing worksheets, audio and video recordings collected during a two week workshop in which 11 high school youths created physical computing projects that included (audio, pose, and image) ML classifiers. We found that through peer-testing youths reflected on the size of their training datasets, the diversity of their training data, the design of their classes and the contexts in which they produced training data. We discuss future directions for research on peer-testing in AI/ML education and current limitations for these kinds of activities. 

While the last two decades have seen an increased interest in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) in K-12 schools, few efforts have focused on the teachers and teaching practices necessary to support these interventions. Even fewer have considered the important work that teachers carry out not just inside classrooms but beyond the classroom walls to sustain such STEAM implementation efforts, from interacting with administrators to recruiting students and persuading parents about the importance of arts and computer science. In order to understand teachers’ needs and practices regarding STEAM implementation, in this paper, we focus on eight experienced computer science teachers’ reflections on implementing a STEAM unit using electronic textiles, which combine crafting, circuit design, and coding so as to make wearable artifacts. We use a broad lens to examine the practices high school teachers employed not only in their classrooms but also in their schools and communities to keep these equitable learning opportunities going, from communicating with other teachers and admins to building a computer science (CS) teacher community across district and state lines. We also analyzed these reflections to understand teachers’ own social and emotional needs—needs important to staying in the field of CS education—better, as they are relevant to engaging with learning new content, applying new pedagogical skills, and obtaining materials and endorsements from their organizations to bring STEAM into their classrooms. In the discussion, we contemplate what teachers’ reported practices and needs say about supporting and sustaining equitable STEAM in classrooms. 

Amongst efforts to realize computer science (CS) for all, recent critiques of racially biased technologies have emerged (e.g., facial recognition software), revealing a need to critically examine the interaction between computing solutions and societal factors. Yet within efforts to introduce K-12 students to such topics, studies examining teachers' learning of critical computing are rare. To understand how teachers learn to integrate societal issues within computing education, we analyzed video of a teacher professional development (PD) session with experienced computing teachers. Highlighting three particular episodes of conversation during PD, our analysis revealed how personal and classroom experiences—from making a sensor-based project to drawing on family and teaching experiences—tethered teachers’ weaving of societal and technical aspects of CS and enabled reflections on their learning and pedagogy. We discuss the need for future PD efforts to build on teachers’ experiences, draw in diverse teacher voices, and develop politicized trust among teachers. 

The pandemic outbreak of COVID-19 has highlighted an urgent need for infectious disease education for K-12 students. To gather a better understanding of what educational interventions have been conducted and to what effect, we performed a scoping review. We identified and examined 23 empirical researcher- and teacher-designed studies conducted in the last 20 years that have reported on efforts to help K-12 students learn about infectious diseases, with a focus on respiratory transmission. Our review shows studies of educational interventions on this topic are rare, especially with regard to the more population-scale (vs. cellular level) concepts of epidemiology. Furthermore, efforts to educate youth about infectious disease primarily focused on secondary school students, with an emphasis on interactive learning environments to model or simulate both cellular-level and population-level attributes of infectious disease. Studies were only mildly successful in raising science interest, with somewhat stronger findings on helping students engage in scientific inquiry on the biology of infectious diseases and/or community spread. Most importantly, efforts left out critical dimensions of transmission dynamics key to understanding implications for public health. Based on our review, we articulate implications for further research and development in this important domain. 

In K-12 education, nearly all e"orts focused on expanding computer science education center on the induction of new computer science teachers, with very little attention given to support the ongoing needs of experienced computer science teachers. More seasoned teachers bene!t from deepening their content knowledge, peda gogical practices, and knowledge and capacity to provide equitable and inclusive learning experiences that results in students feeling a sense of belonging in computer science. This panel will discuss (a) the needs of experienced CS teachers from a variety of perspectives, including teacher education researchers, professional development leaders, and high school practitioners and teacher facilitator, and (b) collectively outline a research and practice agenda that focuses on supporting, retaining, and further developing experienced teachers through expanded professional development, leadership opportuni ties, and community for CS teachers. 

In this paper, we share the design of a virtual epidemic with recognizable similarities to the real-life COVID-19 pandemic in order to engage children and youth in seeking information about the outbreak and practicing usage of personal protection equipment. In our research we sought to create a safe space in the virtual world, Whyville, for youth to “play” with serious topics of infection, asymptomatic disease transmission, prevention measures, and research and reporting of public health information. We examined the logfiles of 1,022 youth aged 10-18 years (mean = 13.7 years) who participated in an outbreak of a virtual virus, SPIKEY-20, in October and November 2020. Analyzing log files, we found that player engagement in productive infectious disease practices increased, including information seeking as well as purchases and usage of personal protective equipment during the virtual epidemic. In the discussion, we address the potential for virtual epidemics to provide a safe, playful space to practice and learn how to productively confront infectious disease and build promising connections between virtual and real-life epidemics. 

While many digital or physical tools and construction kits have been developed for young makers, far fewer developments have focused on making with living materials, at DNA and cellular scales. In this paper, we review the affordances of various hands-on simulation tools and wet labs for K-12-aged biomakers to be used in school, home and science centers. We discuss how making with biology requires broadened conceptualizations of perceptibility, tinkerability, expressivity, and usability---features commonly considered in the research and design of digital and physical maker media. We conclude with a discussion of affordances and challenges we see in the current generation of tools and labs for supporting making with biology and in which ways these can be expanded to support learning, collaboration, and creativity that are valued in maker education. 

Over the past decade, initiatives around the world have introduced computing into K–12 education under the umbrella of computational thinking. While initial implementations focused on skills and knowledge for college and career readiness, more recent framings include situated computational thinking (identity, participation, creative expression) and critical computational thinking (political and ethical impacts of computing, justice). This expansion reflects a revaluation of what it means for learners to be computationally-literate in the 21st century. We review the current landscape of K–12 computing education, discuss interactions between different framings of computational thinking, and consider how an encompassing framework of computational literacies clarifies the importance of computing for broader K–12 educational priorities as well as key unresolved issues.