Search for: All records

This study investigates the coding attitudes of elementary students’ (K-5) following their participation in lessons that integrated computational thinking (CT) and culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) in content area instruction. Their teachers attended a professional development program in the summer to develop these integrated lessons for the school year. A total of 149 upper elementary students (grades 3-5) completed the Elementary Students Coding Attitudes survey (Mason & Rich, 2020) both before and after the lessons, while a subset of 58 students spread across K-5 classrooms were interviewed after the lesson implementation. Survey results find a decline in students’ coding interest and perception of coding from pretest to posttest. Conversely, qualitative analysis of interview data, conducted through abductive coding, summary development, and peer debriefing, demonstrated that most students enjoyed the lessons and expressed interest in pursuing coding in the future. The mixed results from this study highlight critical considerations for supporting elementary educators in successfully integrating CT and culturally responsive practices. Additionally, the findings point to opportunities for strengthening professional development and refining our research methods to better capture data within elementary classrooms, particularly in the lower grades. 

Recent efforts to integrate computer science (CS) into classrooms have led to an increase in professional development (PD) programs aimed at improving educators' readiness. This study seeks to identify the factors influencing educators' choices of CS tools for lesson planning after participating in a PD program. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its impact on education has gained increasing attention due to the opportunities and challenges it presents for K-12 classrooms. While educators play a crucial role in integrating AI technologies into instruction, empirical evidence regarding elementary educators’ perceptions of AI into instruction remains scarce. This study explores elementary educators’ perceptions of AI during and after participating in a professional development (PD) program, which incorporated AI- focused sessions. Data collected from interviews, exit tickets, and group discussions indicate that educators’ perceptions are shaped by factors such as the usefulness of AI tools, ethical considerations, risks for younger students, and pedagogical concerns. Further, findings indicate that educators responded positively to the AI concepts and associated resources introduced in the PD. These findings have implications for research, practice, and policy aimed at supporting educators in integrating AI into classroom instruction. 

This study examines the evolution of a professional development (PD) program over a 5-year period designed to enhance computer science (CS) education in elementary schools. Despite growing emphasis on CS in K-12 education, elementary teachers often lack resources and training. Our project addressed this gap by offering an annual summer PD Institute (2020 to 2024), aimed to equip K-5 teachers with content and pedagogical knowledge needed to integrate CS into their curriculum. The overarching intention of the program is to increase CS opportunities in elementary schools, with a focus on engaging female students and those from underrepresented backgrounds. Utilizing the framework of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK), the PD design was iteratively refined based on teacher feedback and artifact analysis. We conducted a retrospective, qualitative analysis to identify core PD characteristics and their evolution. Our findings reveal how PD content evolved across dimensions of the TPACK framework, with the fifth year achieving a balanced distribution of components. This study contributes to understanding effective design principles for elementary CS teacher PD and highlights the importance of researcher-teacher partnerships in building a community of elementary CS educators. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its impact on education is a topic gaining attention due to the opportunities and challenges it presents for K-12 classrooms. While educators are crucial in integrating AI technology into instruction, empirical evidence documenting elementary educators’ perceptions of AI and its integration in classroom instruction is scarce. This study explores elementary educators’ perceptions of AI during and after participation in a professional development (PD) program which incorporated AI-focused sessions. Analyzing data from interviews, exit tickets, and group discussions, findings indicate that perceptions are shaped by factors such as the perceived usefulness of AI tools, ethical considerations, risks for younger students, and pedagogical concerns. Further, findings indicate that educators responded positively to the AI concepts and associated resources introduced in the PD. These findings offer important insights for research, practice, and policy to better support educators’ AI integration into classroom instruction. 

Teachers’ lack of knowledge about computational thinking (CT) and limited opportunities to incorporate CT in existing curricula pose unique challenges at the elementary level. Despite the crucial role of professional development (PD) in preparing elementary school teachers to integrate CT in classroom instruction, there is little research documenting PD programs that focus on integration in literacy and mathematics compared to other subject areas. In this work, we present a PD program that integrates CT with disciplinary content to support teachers as they integrate CT with literacy and mathematics in elementary school classrooms. Using data from multiple sources, we present findings from two case studies to examine the impact of PD on teachers’ integration of CT with content in lesson planning and implementation. Findings have implications related to the integration of CT in elementary school and teacher PD. 

Despite growth in computer science (CS) education, females and racially minoritized populations remain underrepresented in the field. Integrating culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) in CS education is critical to reducing these disparities. In this work, we investigate how teachers employ student characterizations to support their approaches to CS and CRP integration following participation in professional development (PD) designed to support the integration of CS and CRP in content area instruction. Qualitative interview data were collected from 15 elementary teachers who attended the PD. Findings indicate that teachers referenced academic and demographic student characteristics to support their stances toward CS and CRP integration. Implications are drawn regarding the design of PD programs that help elementary teachers consider student identities when designing culturally responsive CS instruction. 

In this work, we present a professional development (PD) program thatseeks to support elementary teachers as they integrate computer science (CS) with disciplinary content and culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) to create inclusive environments that engage all students with computing. Using semi-structured interviews with 17 participants, we subsequently examine the content, technology tools, and CRP strategies that teachers perceived as represented in lessons designed during their participation in PD. Findings indicated that teachers integrated CS tools primarily with literacy and utilized CRP strategies commonly cited as instructional best practices (e.g., differentiation). Results have implications for future PD as well as research that seeks to support teacher learning about CS-integrated instruction. 

There has been a growing interest in teaching computer science (CS) concepts to students at a younger age. Increasingly, block-based programming has been used in place of traditional text-based programming languages, like Python, in K-12 education. However, little empirical research has been conducted to compare the combination of the former and physical computing with the latter. This study aimed to address this gap by comparing the attitudes and perceptions of elementary school students in the two approaches in a six-week afterschool program. The findings from the experiment indicated that students’ attitudes and perceptions toward computing were more positive when using physical computing. These findings suggest potential pedagogical implications and future research directions.