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The experiences of underrepresented women and ethnic minorities in computer science (CS) fields are at the heart of understanding the factors that impact the critical transitions students face when entering into Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM) careers. The research, conducted using a grounded theory approach, gauges student and teacher perspectives, specifically investigating minoritized student perspectives that influence their entrance and continuation into an educational pathway. The study’s outcomes underscore the crucial roles of (1) Student Family Encouragement, (2) School and Community Engagement, and (3) Professional/Teacher Mentorship as critical junctions that school districts should be aware of when creating student pathways into college and career, particularly for underrepresented groups. 

This study investigated how Chicago Public Schools (CPS) computer science (CS) teachers and instructional coaches navigated remote professional development (PD) during the pandemic. Analyzing multiple sources of qualitative data, we explored how coaches adapted PD to address teachers’ unique needs and how teachers experienced remote PD. We found that the coaching team designed PD to help teachers translate key instructional strategies into the remote learning environment and increasingly centered their PD design efforts on improving teacher engagement and wellbeing. Teachers primarily valued the relational aspects of PD, including opportunities for collaboration and personalized support from instructional coaches. Leveraging an ecological framework, we found that the pandemic and remote learning contexts amplified preexisting PD challenges experienced by teachers and coaches. Findings suggest that PD researchers and designers should focus on teacher wellbeing and that districts should invest in flexible and adaptable PD structures to meet CS teachers’ varied needs. 

Experience with geographic information systems (GIS) can improve students’ spatial skills and provide a foundation for success in STEM (Jant et al., 2019). Researchers and educators co-designed a GIS unit in which high school students learned to use ArcGIS software by exploring geospatial patterns in their local communities. Across three teachers, 134 students participated in the unit and completed a geospatial problem-solving assessment. Students’ performance on the assessment significantly increased from pre- to post-test. Students whose teachers had more GIS experience and completed graded GIS assessments scored higher on geospatial assessments and used more spatial language than students whose teachers had less GIS experience and graded on participation. Students’ expectancy, value, and cost of computer science varied across teachers, and may be linked to students’ ability to devote time to mapbuilding and their engagement with a GIS careers guide. We discuss the impacts of teacher training and lesson implementation on students’ geospatial thinking. 

The goal of this qualitative research is to understand equitable teaching practices of computer science classrooms in the Chicago Public Schools through the video analysis specifically for the Latinx students. Data was collected through video recording from 10 different CPS classrooms. The videos were analyzed qualitative to determine the inquiry driven equitable practices. Though the equitable practices were identified based on the classroom video analysis, literature review on equitable practices and core ECS philosophy informed us to recognize and group the themes and their indicators of equity. This research plays a crucial role in terms of informing the current equitable teaching practices based on the videos in ECS classrooms in Chicago, also the research identifies a need to study further cultural references in terms of teaching computer science curriculum. This research has significance for designing professional development for marginalized population in computer science and possibly for other STEM areas. 

Students’ engagement with geographic information systems (GIS) can improve spatial skills, which are predictors of STEM success (Jant et al., 2019). We used a survey motivated by Eccles’s (2009) expectancy-value-cost framework to assess students’ perceptions of their computer science (CS) courses before and after participation in a GIS unit. The unit provided opportunities to apply GIS to inquiry-based projects focused on solving problems in their own communities. Across four teachers, 158 students participated in the GIS unit and completed the survey. We found that students’ reports of classroom equity predicted their expectancy for success in CS and their desire to take additional CS courses or major in CS. We also examined students’ performance on a geospatial problem-solving assessment to investigate their understanding of GIS and their spatial reasoning. 

Abstract Collaboration between ecologists and learning scientists can give rise to powerful models for scientific outreach within ecology. This paper presents a process by which learning scientists and ecologists codesigned a science curriculum that invites students to join an ecological community of practice. In theJourney to El Yunquemiddle school science curriculum, students engage with simulation models generated from data gathered by Luquillo Long Term Ecological Research (LUQ LTER) scientists.Journey to El Yunquestudents can explore post‐hurricane population changes in yagrumo (Cecropia schreberiana), tabonuco (Dacryodes excelsa), coquís (Eleutherodactylus coquí), snails (Caracolus caracola), anoles (Anolis stratulusandA. gundlachi), veiled stinkhorn mushrooms (Dictyophora indusiata), and caterpillars (Historis odius). Ecology‐based revisions toJourney to El Yunquehave included adding models of the effects of repeated hurricanes on limiting factors, based in part on findings from a canopy trimming experiment. Revisions based on classroom testing include simplifying student‐facing model controls to allow students to focus on the essential model components. The ongoing collaboration that keeps theJourney to El Yunquecurriculum on the cutting edge of ecological and educational advances has been sustained for over two decades. We attribute the longevity of this work to (1) the long‐term nature of LUQ LTER, (2) a sustained interdisciplinary collaboration, and (3) our long‐term relationships with schools. 

Prior research has shown that students pursuing Exploring Computer Science (ECS) as their first elective course were more likely to pursue another computer science course in high school, as compared to students who took a traditional course as the first course. This study investigated whether the results are consistent when students are pursuing ECS to fulfill the Chicago Public Schools' graduation requirement. ECS is designed to foster deep engagement through equitable inquiry around computer science concepts. It is hypothesized that students who are fulfilling a graduation requirement will pursue additional computer science coursework at rates similar to students who were pursuing ECS as an elective course. 

Prior research has shown that students pursuing Exploring Computer Science (ECS) as their first elective course were more likely to pursue another computer science course in high school, as compared to students who took a traditional course as the first course. This study investigated whether the results are consistent when students are pursuing ECS to fulfill the Chicago Public Schools' graduation requirement. ECS is designed to foster deep engagement through equitable inquiry around computer science concepts. It is hypothesized that students who are fulfilling a graduation requirement will pursue additional computer science coursework at rates similar to students who were pursuing ECS as an elective course. 

Ecosystem response to hurricane disturbance is complex and multi-faceted. The likelihood of increased frequency of severe hurricanes creates a need for the general public to understand how ecosystems respond to hurricanes. Yet, opportunities to study disturbances to complex systems are rare in U.S. K–12 schools. Educators and researchers in the Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research program used the results of research on ecosystem response to hurricane disturbance in the Luquillo Experimental Forest as a foundation for the development of Journey to El Yunque, a web-based, middle-school curriculum unit. The program engages students in using models as evidence to develop explanations for how particular species respond to hurricane disturbance. Prior research in education has shown that engaging students in a particular role, like that of a scientist, could have detrimental effects on students’ abilities to transfer what is learned from one context to another. In this research, we sought to understand whether having students engage in authentic scientific practices could support transfer of knowledge to the abstract context of a standards-based assessment. Students were randomly assigned to engage in the program in the role of a scientist or in the role of a student learning about an ecosystem. The dependent variables included students’ comprehension of the background readings, their predictions of population changes, and their overall learning of ecology. The results indicate that taking on a scientist role during the learning activities had an indirect effect on general ecology knowledge by increasing the quality of students’ notetaking during background reading. The results also indicate that students struggled to use their knowledge to develop a robust explanation for how species respond to hurricane disturbance. Journey to El Yunque provides a framework for engaging students in authentic investigations of hurricane disturbance. Future research will examine how to improve the quality of students’ final explanations.