Search for: All records

With a rise in technology, the demand for computer science (CS) education is increasing in K-12 schools, yet access is inequitable. This research brings together teachers and students participating in a secondary school CS program in the Milwaukee Public School District through an initiative to ensure all students have access to equitable, meaningful, rigorous, and relevant inquiry-based CS education. Utilizing a qualitative approach and grounded theory, this study investigated student-teacher relationships in computer science program participation and what factors from these relationships contribute to marginalized students continuing in an early Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) K-12 pathway. Findings suggest teachers served a dynamic role as agents of professional orientation central to how students a) experienced CS learning and b) how students perceived the field they were attempting to enter (development of a CS identity). Moreover, these teachers oriented students into an industry with a history of marginalization.