Supporting the Online Practice of Computational Thinking Learning Strategies for Elementary Teachers and Students

• In Event: Opportunities and Challenges in Equity-Centered Online Teaching and Learning in K–16 Computing Education

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
To provide equitable learning opportunities, researchers have explored meta-cognitive strategies that make the implicit cognitive processes of expert learners explicit to all learners (De La Paz, 2005; Graham et al., 2012, Klingner & Vaughn, 1998; Montague, 1992). This study has two objectives: to understand how a diagramming learning strategy supports the development of computer science/computational thinking (CS/CT) in elementary teachers and students (ages 9-14), and, to investigate how learning strategy instruction transitions online. Learning strategies aim to make instruction more equitable, but their effectiveness may be hindered by online instruction.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Learning strategies scaffold meta-cognitive thinking. They are techniques, principles, or rules that enable a student to learn, solve problems, and to complete tasks independently (Deshler & Schumaker, 1984, Donker et al., 2014, Pressley, Borkowski, & Schneider, 2010). The foundational idea of learning strategies is to support all learners in becoming independent by directly teaching them the processes that expert learners use. Meta-cognitive learning strategies make the covert activities of expert learners overt, enabling struggling learners to engage in, practice, and eventually internalize ways to guide their own thinking, motivation, and behaviors to meet learning goals. Our study will focus on two strategies: diagramming, a strategy common in math problem-solving and (van Garderen & Scheuermann, 2015), and TIPP&SEE, a previewing and navigating strategy for Scratch (redacted).

METHODS & DATA SOURCES
In the first phase of the study, we tested two different orientations of the same diagrams (see Figures 3 and 4), horizontal and vertical, with 45 teachers at a virtual professional development for an intermediate Scratch curriculum (redacted). Data sources include retrospective teacher interviews on the diagrams, Scratch projects, worksheets, and focus groups and surveys on the virtual experience.

Based on the results of the teacher phase, we will design student worksheets. Classrooms will be split into three treatment groups with different combinations of the TIPP&SEE and diagramming strategies. Data sources include student Scratch projects, worksheets, and conceptual assessments.

FINDINGS
Preliminary analysis of teacher diagram worksheets suggest that the vertical diagram better matched their mental models of their Scratch project execution. It also revealed that teachers innovated on how they annotated the online worksheets, such as comments and custom shapes. They also anticipated equity issues among their students, such as limited access to devices. Data collection is still ongoing. For the student phase, we hypothesize that students using both TIPP&SEE and diagrams will perform best, as a meta-analysis of strategy instruction revealed that a combination of strategies led to performance improvements in almost all cases (Donker et al., 2014).

SIGNIFICANCE
Meta-cognitve learning strategies aim to make the tacit processes employed by expert learners accessible to all learners. However, the transition to online instruction has exposed many underlying inequities that can inhibit the effectiveness of the very strategies meant to serve marginalized students. This study aims to understand how CS/CT learning strategy instruction can be supported so that students have access to equitable learning opportunities.

Author

• Jean Salac, University of Chicago