Distributed Expertise for Computational Problem Solving in Middle School Science Classrooms

• In Event: Advanced Technology in STEM+C Education

Abstract

This paper explores themes related to the perspectives of 15 eighth grade science teachers as they created learning environments to support students’ climate change-based computer game creation. It suggests possibilities for how science content teachers, with little experience computing, understand and enact structures for learning through distributed expertise. Results from interviews indicate that due to teachers’ lack of familiarity, they were not comfortable with computational tools or with helping students solve problems. However, teachers admitted to students that they did not know what they were doing and thus encouraged students to use each other for help, different resources, and the programming platform. It ends with recommendations for teachers to consider as they integrate computational tools and practices into science classrooms.

Authors

• Eli Tucker-Raymond, Boston University

• Michael Patrick Cassidy, TERC

• Gillian M. Puttick, TERC

• Casper Harteveld, Northeastern University

• Giovanni Troiano