Scaffolding Use, Modify, Create: Facilitating the Progression to Computational Thinking in Middle-Grades Science

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: Instructional Strategies and Learning Tools to Support STEM Learning

Abstract

This design case presents a curricular pathway for incorporating a Use-Modify-Create progression with scaffolded support designed to integrate computational thinking practices into middle grades science curricula. This paper aims to illustrate how this pathway can address the challenges teachers face in integrating computational thinking practices that involve programming into their life sciences content. Lessons learned piloting these materials offer implications for instructional design that enables teachers to incorporate these practices into their science classrooms while meeting the needs of students with varied levels of exposure to computing, staying within instructional time constraints, and promoting student ownership of computational artifacts.

Authors

• Jennifer K. Houchins, North Carolina State University

• Danielle Cadieux Boulden, Code.org

• Arif Rachmatullah, SRI International

• Bita Akram, North Carolina State University

• Eric N. Wiebe, North Carolina State University

• Nick Lytle, University of Florida

• Veronica Catete, North Carolina State University

• Tiffany Barnes