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Assessment of the impact of teacher professional development is seldom accomplished by asking their students. This study addresses whether self-reported changes in teacher practices align with their students’ perceptions of changes in teaching practices. Participants were 39 teachers from two US states that completed at least 15 teaching sessions totaling more than 3.5 hours of teacher professional development (practice teaching) inside the simulated teaching environment of simSchool. The goals of the professional development were remediation of implicit bias in teaching practices and fostering equity in teaching. Pre-post surveys were completed by the teachers before and after the professional development sessions. Concurrent pre and post surveys were administered to 800 of the teachers’ G3-12 students. This study presents the results of examining whether teacher-reported changes in their teaching practices can be shown to align with changes reported by their students. 

To address the diversity of student differences, educators need to actively recognize and counter patterns of bias in their teaching practices as well as in their classroom environments. The topic is highly relevant to the education field including faculty of educator preparation programs, classroom teachers and administrators. The simulated teaching environment includes research-based outcomes that show improvement in teaching efficacy and culturally diverse teaching practices. The simulation is focused on allowing educators to “practice teaching” in a variety of content areas any time benefitting from the simEquity experience by learning how to change instructional practices based on bias awareness and guided improvement through targeted feedback. Context appropriate recommendations for improvements in equity-based teaching practices will provide participants with the tools needed for reducing implicit bias in instruction. The cycle includes planning instruction, teaching in a simulation, receiving feedback, improving instruction for subsequent simulations and reflecting on the practices that were used with the artificially created students. One strength of using simulations is the objective feedback provided to participants that allow improvements based on actual choices made with each of the simStudents. All participants will have access for any of their colleagues and students to the “Teaching without bias” module for one year. 

The integration of Computational Thinking (CT) into K-12 education has gained significance in recent years as the field of education experiences the need to equip students with essential skills for the 21st century. This case study focused on two sequencing activities, involving plugged and unplugged tasks, conducted with four children aged four to seven, spanning pre-kindergarten to second grade. The central research question guiding the study was: "What computational thinking (CT) skills were demonstrated by K-2 students as they engaged in two different sequencing tasks?" The study identified competencies in sequencing, reverse sequencing, debugging, pattern recognition, and problem decomposition. The findings suggest that both unplugged and plugged sequencing tasks provide age-appropriate entry points for young children to develop various CT competencies. Furthermore, the study highlights the potential for plugged and unplugged sequencing tasks to be integrated into early childhood classroom activities, offering a practical approach to promoting CT skills in young learners. 

Assessment of the impact of teacher professional development is seldom accomplished by asking their students. This study addresses whether self-reported changes in teacher practices align with their students’ perceptions of changes in teaching practices. Participants were 39 teachers from two US states that completed at least 15 teaching sessions totaling more than 3.5 hours of teacher professional development (practice teaching) inside the simulated teaching environment of simSchool. The goals of the professional development were remediation of implicit bias in teaching practices and fostering equity in teaching. Pre-post surveys were completed by the teachers before and after the professional development sessions. Concurrent pre and post surveys were administered to 800 of the teachers’ G3-12 students. This study presents the results of examining whether teacher-reported changes in their teaching practices can be shown to align with changes reported by their students. 

This study is implemented with a focus of discovering how students use the practice of embodied learning to gain knowledge of computational thinking (CT). An intervention was executed at an elementary school in a midwestern state, where students used a marker free virtual reality system to engage in a task that requires them to use the CT concepts and skills. Students participated in the path finding activity within the AR system, and demonstrated accounts of how they use their body to express their understanding of abstract CT concepts. Moreover, the affordances of the AR system were integrated to the student’s learning experience, furthering the discussion of how student’s embodied movement within the virtual world influences their learning outcomes of CT concepts. As an attempt to analyze the embodied learning experience of abstract notions, the researchers developed a coding framework that introduces the mapping of abstract CT concepts and the tangible embodied action that reflects each concept. This short paper thus presents the framework for embodied computational thinking skills, and further elaborates on the future implications of the on-going work. 

Preservice teachers (PSTs) in an educational foundations course were tasked with leading elementary students in an engineering design challenge. In order to explore different approaches for helping the PSTs develop competence in engineering education, two implementation methods were tested. In Spring 2022, PSTs collaborated with undergraduate engineering students to develop carnival-themed design challenge lessons. In Fall 2022, PSTs worked with their PST classmates to teach a professionally prepared engineering lesson focused on designing plastic filters. PSTs’ knowledge of engineering and engineering pedagogy were compared across the two semesters using an exploratory approach. Both groups showed increases in engineering knowledge and engineering pedagogical knowledge. Item-level differences suggest unique benefits to each approach providing insight for teacher educators designing interventions to help prepare PSTs to integrate engineering into elementary education. 

This study investigates the effects of embodied learning experiences in learning abstract concepts, such as computational thinking (CT), among young learners. Specifically, it examines whether the benefits of embodied learning can be replicated within a mixed-reality setting, where students engage with virtual objects to perform CT tasks. A group of ten first-grade students from an elementary school participated, engaging in embodied learning activities followed by assessments in CT. Through the analysis of video recordings, it was observed that participants could effectively articulate CT concepts, including the understanding of programming code meanings and their sequences, through their bodily movements. The congruence between students’ bodily movement and CT concepts was found to be advantageous for their comprehension. However, the study also noted instances of incongruent movements that did not align with the intended CT concepts, which attracted researchers’ attentions. The study identified two distinct types of embodiment manifested in the mixed-reality environment, shedding light on the nuanced dynamics of embodied learning in the context of CT education.