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Explore Research Products in the PAR
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Award ID contains: 2219401

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  1. ; ; (, ACM)
    Based on work in an ongoing research-practice partnership, we share teacher-designed project-based learning (PBL) units that sought to integrate Appalachian heritage and CT. We offer reflections on the lessons learned in the design and implementation of PBL units in addition to making recommendations for future PBL units that integrate CT and cultural heritage. This work has implications for improving computing education in rural contexts and in PBL settings. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available February 18, 2026
  2. ; ; (, Journal of Research on Technology in Education)
    Students in Appalachia have a heritage of problem-solving. We explore how computational thinking (CT) relates to and complements this heritage by analyzing 34 local ingenuity stories, and perspectives from 35 community members about the relevance of CT. We found the two problem-solving approaches are meaningfully different, but can be used in concert. Since equating them could contribute to confusion and cultural erasure, researchers and educators bringing CT as a problem solving strategy into rural and other resourceful cultures must clarify what they mean by “CT helps problem solving.” In these cultures, CT skills are better introduced as new tools to expand students’ problem-solving toolkits, rather than tools that are identical to or better than those traditionally used in their culture. 
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    Full Text Available 
  3. ; ; (, ACM)
    Our research-practice partnership with two school districts in Eastern Kentucky has created a rurally sustaining computational thinking (CT) pathway. In this paper we share our project’s operational understanding of the concept of rural sustainability in the context of CT pathways. We posit that an effective CT pathway for rural communities must be firmly rooted in their cultural wealth, funds of knowledge, and socioeconomic priorities. Moreover, it should empower students to draw upon their own innovation heritage, leveraging CT as a tool to identify and address community challenges. Emphasizing the necessity of incorporating rural contexts into discussions on equitable access to computing education, our conceptualization provides insights into how policy and research can contribute to this important goal. 
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    Full Text Available 
  4. ; (, Digital Promise Resource Repository)
    We report on eleven middle school project-based learning units designed by fifteen Central Appalachian teachers, following our research practice partnership’s first week-long computational thinking curriculum design institute. We investigate whether and how these planned units offer opportunities for students to practice computational thinking while engaging with the region’s rich heritage of innovation, community connections and storytelling. We find that all, or the vast majority of unit plans, incorporate computational thinking, heritage/community and storytelling in compelling ways. We discuss implications for our partner community, for rural education, and for the field of computational thinking education research. 
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    Accepted Manuscript Full Text Available
  5. ; ; ; (, Digital Promise Resource Repository)
    For many rural teachers and students, the notion of “computational thinking” sounds like a novelty and nice-to-have from far away cities, rather than an essential competency relevant to their local context. However, two Appalachian school districts, in a research practice partnership, have begun to look for connections between rural heritage stories and computational thinking, to help students grow as community problem solvers. The team has collected several local “ingenuity stories” and began to analyze what the local flavor of ingenuity is, and direct tie-ins to computational thinking. The stories have been inspiring, but it takes some thoughtful interviewing to identify the exact connections to computational thinking. Come hear about the first round of research findings, and think with us about ways to move forward so we can ground computing education in local rural contexts. 
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    Accepted Manuscript Full Text Available
  6. ; ; (, Digital Promise Blog https://digitalpromise.org/2023/08/22/finding-the-low-tech-high-impact-solution-to-computational-thinking-instruction/)
    Key ideas: Computational thinking and computer science can be taught to students in primary grades using low tech tools. Teacher leaders from rural Appalachia conducted a professional development training that supported other educators in their community. Learning computational thinking and computer science in the primary grades is important for setting a foundation that can be built upon throughout middle and high school. 
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    Accepted Manuscript Full Text Available
  7. (, Digital Promise)
    In this panel presentation, Emi Iwatani applies the three tenets of civic imagination (advanced by Henry Jenkins, Sangita Shresthova and colleagues) to explain how research practice partnership projects in Eastern Kentucky has required inclusion and rigor, in order to work towards the future. She argues that "rigor" (strictness, exactness) in such co-design work must be applied not just to the inferential, knowledge generation processes (e.g., instrumentation, analysis) but also to setting up pre-conditions in alignment with the tenets. 
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    Accepted Manuscript Full Text Available
  8. ; ; ; ; (, Kentucky Society for Technology in Education Spring Conference)
    Accepted Manuscript Full Text Available
  9. (, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Center for Intercultural Studies.)
    In this presentation, Emi Iwatani shares how the "Tough As Nails, Nimble Fingers: Developing a K-8 Coding Pathway for Kentucky Appalachia" was conceptualized to explore the idea of "cultural fit" of computational thinking and computer science education in Eastern Kentucky. It also shares project activities and findings related to that topic, and comments on the potential relevance of Emi's personal cultural (Japanese) background to project conception and execution. 
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    Accepted Manuscript Full Text Available