Introducing Preservice Teachers to Computational Thinking at Scale

• In Event: Dynamics of Computational Thinking: Theoretical and Practical Debates in Teacher Training

Abstract

As computer science (CS) education gains momentum, schools increasingly strive to prepare students for technology-rich communities and careers. In New York State, CS has been established as a new teacher licensure and standards area and the NYC DOE is training K-12 in-service teachers to deliver CS instruction. Similar shifts have not been widely seen in teacher preparation; districts typically engage in professional development with in-service teachers. Innovative efforts can be made at scale to introduce pre-service teachers to computer science through computational thinking (CT). This paper describes a replicable partnership model developed by one graduate school of education at a large, northeastern city college, that aims to improve elementary student performance in science and math through modifications to pre-service methods courses using computational thinking content and pedagogy. This institution has partnered with the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) to provide technical assistance and computational thinking expertise.
ISTE defines four pillars of CT as problem decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction and algorithm design. These pillars have deep connections to math and science that can be leveraged to help pre-service teachers extend their knowledge of those subjects to infuse CT (Weintrop, 2016). By infusing computational thinking into core math and science pre-service methods courses, future elementary teachers will have a greater understanding of CT and how it can be integrated into their own classrooms (Yadav, 2014). Importantly, this research effort positions entry points to computer science within urban elementary school classrooms, not with high school math and science teachers or students.
The project design team, composed of faculty, department chairs, administrators, and content area experts, utilized designed-based implementation research to develop a sustainable and scalable approach to infuse CT into required math and science teaching methods courses and student teaching seminars. Two year-long cohorts of undergraduate Childhood Education (grades 1-6) teacher candidates (N=32) participating in the experience provided iterative feedback during their fall semester methods course and part-time student teaching placements in Title I schools. They then submitted CT-infused lesson plans to earn a competency-based set of stackable micro-credentials during stipended, full-time student teaching in the spring semester. The model provides insight into connecting CT and childhood math and science, preparing in-service teachers to mentor students in CT instruction, understanding the impact of CT on student teachers’ instructional practices, assessing student teachers’ CT competency and confidence, and signaling these competencies to schools through micro-credentials.
Imagined at scale, this work promotes interdisciplinary approaches in pre-service teacher preparation and encourages computer science to be introduced by generalists. In this way, concepts of domains and access are reimagined and challenged, as contributions to the field of both urban education and CS education. The instructional shifts driven by this application of CT knowledge and pedagogies supports the expansion of CS education and more rigorous early math and science education experiences in the most diverse county in the U.S.

Authors

• Aankit Patel, The City University of New York

• Ashleigh Thompson, City University of New York

• Carolyn Sykora, International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)

• Alyssa Vitale