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This study investigates the use of exit tickets as formative assessments in maths-integrated computer science (CS) lessons for grade 5 students. Exit tickets are brief surveys administered immediately after instructional activities. Using structural equation modelling (SEM), we analysed data from 1,067 students to examine the reliability and validity of exit tickets in predicting summative pre/post survey results. The study found that the exit ticket responses consistently assessed student affect at two administration points, meeting strict measurement invariance criteria (χ2(21) = 1.34, p = 1.00). Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that exit tickets predicted student self-efficacy and interest in CS, which are key educational outcomes. These findings suggest that exit tickets can be valuable tools for enhancing instructional practices and supporting student learning and engagement in CS education. The study concludes with recommendations for effectively implementing exit tickets in educational settings. 

Objectives. The increasing demand for computing skills has led to a rapid rise in the development of new computer science (CS) curricula, many with the goal of equitably broadening participation of underrepresented students in CS. While such initiatives are vital, factors outside of the school environment also play a role in influencing students’ interests. In this paper, we examined the effects of students’ perceived parental support on their interest in computer programming and explored the mechanisms through which this effect may have been established as students participated in an introductory CS instructional unit. Participants. This instructional unit was implemented with upper primary (grade 5) school students and was designed to broaden trajectories for participation in CS. The participants in the current study (N=170) came from six classrooms in two rural schools in the western United States. Study Method. The seven-week instructional unit began with students playing a commercial CS tabletop board game that highlighted fundamental programming concepts, and transitioned to having students create their own board game levels in the block-based programming language, Scratch. Further, because the board game could be taken home, the instructional unit offered opportunities to involve the family in school-based CS activities. To investigate the effect of students’ perception of parental (specifically father and mother) support on their interest in and self-efficacy to pursue CS, we surveyed students before and after the unit’s implementations and explored the structural relationship of the data using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results. We present three findings. First, the combined effect of students’ perceived mother’s and father’s support measured prior to the implementation (pre-survey) predicted students’ self-efficacy (Std B = 0.37, SE = 0.010, p < .001) and interest in computer programming (Std B = 0.328, SE = 0.134, p < .003) measured after the implementation (post-survey). Secondly, the combined effect of perceived mother and father support (Std B = 0.132, 95% CI [0.039, 0.399], 99% CI [0.017, 0.542]) on students’ interest was mediated by whether or not they took the CS board game home. Conclusions. Our findings indicate that perceived parental support has the potential to play an important role in students’ self-efficacy and interest in computer programming and that providing opportunities for students to bring CS artifacts home has the potential to further affect students’ interest in computer programming. 

In the United States, school curricula are often created and taught with distinct boundaries between disciplines. This division between curricular areas may serve as a hindrance to students’ long-term learning and their ability to generalize. In contrast, cross-curricular pedagogy provides a way for students to think beyond the classroom walls and make important connections across disciplines. The purpose of this paper is a theoretical reflection on our use of Expansive Framing in our design of lessons across learning environments within the school. We provide a narrative account of our early work in using this theoretical framework to co-plan and enact interdisciplinary mathematics and computer science (CS) tasks with a team of elementary school educators and school district personnel. The unit focuses on the concepts of exponents in mathematics and repeat loops as a control structure in computer science. Using a narrative approach, we describe what occurred during the collaborative planning of lessons and subsequent enactments in two fifth-grade classrooms and one computer lab and provide a practitioner‑oriented account of our experience. 

This study examines how a rural-serving school district aimed to provide elementary-level computer science (CS) by offering instruction during students’ computer lab time. As part of a research-practice partnership, cross-context mathematics and CS lessons were co-designed to expansively frame and highlight connections across – as opposed to integration within – the two subjects. Findings indicated that most students who engaged with the lessons across the lab and classroom contexts reported finding the lessons interesting, seeing connections to their mathematics classes, and understanding the programming. In contrast, a three-level logistic regression model showed that students who only learned about mathematics connections within the CS lessons (thus not in a cross-context way) reported statistically significant lower levels of interest, connections, and understanding. 

Despite proliferated efforts to integrate computer science in elementary education, there is a dearth of studies that synthesize the current state of CS education research in formal educational contexts, specifically in upper elementary classrooms. Further, while numerous studies have investigated approaches and strategies that broaden participation in computing, the majority of them focus on secondary and post-secondary settings. The present study uses a systematic literature review process to review research conducted with students in formal classroom settings in grades 4, 5, and 6 and published since 2013. We review the research through two questions: What are barriers to broadening participation in CS in upper elementary (grades 4-6)? What instructional approaches and strategies help broaden participation in CS in upper elementary (grades 4-6)? A systematic search of the literature highlighted approaches used for broadening participation, including using various teaching media, designing scaffolds in instruction, and integrating into other subject areas. We conclude by identifying gaps in the research and identifying areas for further research.