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Many secondary school teachers in historically lower performing districts find themselves asked to teach CS without adequate training. They find themselves struggling to build a CS program without the environment necessary to foster student engagement and success. To improve educator preparedness, and transform school cultures, Innovating Detroit’s Robotics Agile Workforce (iDRAW) offers one year of co-instruction by a university instructor with a high school teacher to better prepare the teacher to provide rigorous CS instruction independently in future years. Reflections from this university co-instructor are contained, with insights into the preparation of CS teachers and initiation of CS courses in high schools in the future. 

Computer science education (CSEd) is a growing interdisciplinary area that continues to gain momentum from students, researchers, and educators. Yet, there are few formal programs or degree options for students interested in pursuing graduate work in CSEd. This article explores the existing state of CSEd in the United States (U.S.) through semi-structured interviews with ( n = 15) faculty engaged in CSEd research. Thematic coding of the transcripts revealed the complexities involved in the development of formal programs, the distinct considerations for faculty, and the value of having strong ties to both computer science and education. The themes described positive aspects of support and cohesion within the larger community and opportunities to expand knowledge across fields. Applying Cornell and Parker’s principles of interdisciplinary science to the field of CSEd, we provide recommendations for ways forward and discuss the potential impact on institutional structures, research capacity, individual and group identities, and teaching and learning. The findings from this investigation not only inform on the present state of CSEd in the U.S., but also offer guidance for CSEd-focused graduate programs. 

While computational thinking has gained popularity in K-12 schools to increase access to computing tools and practices, there is still limited understanding on how to broaden participation of students with disabilities in computational thinking (CT). One approach to increasing access to computing to students with disabilities is to educate future special education teachers to bring CT into their instruction. This study examined the influence of integrating CT into assistive technology course for special education pre-service teachers. Our results suggest that integrating CT into special educa- tion teacher preparation coursework can have a positive impact on how pre-service teachers see the value of bringing computational practices to students with disabilities. 

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 describe the model for faculty diversity developed as part of the Professorial Advancement Initiative (PAI) funded under the NSF AGEP program. The PAI, consisting of 12 of the 14 Big Ten Academic Alliance universities, 1 had the goal of doubling the rate at which the universities hired tenure-track minoritized faculty, defined by National Science Foundation as African Americans, Hispanic/Latinx, Native Americans, and Pacific Islanders. This paper reviews the key programmatic elements of the PAI and discusses lessons learned and the practices developed that helped the Alliance achieve its faculty diversity goal. 

Despite the value that cultural experts bring to efforts to broaden the participation of racially minoritized youth in US computer science, there has been little research on supporting their knowledge of computing. This is a missed opportunity to explore the diffusion of computing knowledge across local community contexts where underrepresented youth of color spend time. To address this gap, we present one strategy for promoting cultural experts’ early engagement with code, culturally responsive debugging: using culturally situated expertise and knowledge to debug code. We analyzed qualitative data from a professional development workshop for cultural experts to evaluate this strategy. Our findings have implications for broadening participation efforts and supporting non-programmers’ knowledge of code. 

We explored how preservice teachers in a middle school science methods course learned and applied computational thinking (CT) concepts and activities during a month-long intervention. In the intervention, preservice teachers learned about CT concepts through an hour-long lecture in their methods class, practiced a computing-integration activity for electromagnetic waves, and prepared and implemented a lesson plan based on the activity in student teaching. The intervention was in the early stages of design, and, therefore, the research is exploratory with primarily qualitative data. The data were collected at multiple points throughout the month to measure the development of knowledge and attitudes about CT and computing integration. We found that preservice teachers had little knowledge of computing before the intervention that gradually evolved into a deep understanding that they wanted to apply to computing-integrated activities science and other subjects. Though they had high levels of uncertainty after initial instruction and practicing the computing-integration activity, they found the student teaching experience rewarding and motivating to including computing in their future teaching practice. 

In this poster, we will present approaches and associated design principles for integrating computational thinking (CT) into middle school Social Studies, Arts, and Language Arts instruction to en- hance disciplinary learning. We used four steps to identify these ap- proaches and design principles: (1) co-design with teachers and ex- perts in computer science and CT education to ideate CT-integrated lessons; (2) research team meetings to identify initial design prin- ciples based on the ideated lessons; (3) consultation with subject matter experts; and (4) conducting a Delphi study with pedagogical experts (e.g., teachers, curriculum writers, teacher educators) to examine the clarity, feasibility and potential impact of the design principles. The process led to three broad approaches to integrate CT into Social Studies instruction that included 14 design principles, three for Arts with 16 design principles, and four for Language Arts with 13 design principles.