Mind the Metaphor: Charting the Rhetoric About Introductory Programming in K–12 Schools

• In Event: 52.026 - Emerging Computer Science Research From K–12 Contexts

Abstract

The purpose of this analytical paper is to review the ways programming is introduced to K-12 schools and families. The rhetoric in both popular media articles and academic journals is quite expressive, describing programming as a new literacy in some instances and as grounded mathematics in other instances. Others argue it is a singularly a technical skill, akin to learning a trade. So where does introductory programming “fit” into 21st century K-12 education? This paper does not propose a single answer. Rather it argues that the metaphors we select matter considerably in determining programming’s future in entering (or not entering) schools, and that educators need to make a conscientious effort to hold multiple metaphors in balance without picking just one.

Author

• Quinn Burke, College of Charleston