Work It Out Wombats!™ Apps: Supporting Early Computational Thinking Across Rural Home and Library Settings

• In Event: Digital Practices for Promoting Children's STEM Learning in Informal Settings

Abstract

GBH (a leading producer of educational STEM media) and EDC (experts in how technology can enhance teaching and learning) are collaborating with libraries and rural communities on an NSF-funded project that is exploring how to best use the unique affordances of digital media, mobile technology, and virtual and in-person library experiences to support sustained family engagement with computational thinking (CT) across settings and over time. The project’s target audience is families living in rural areas where access to CT learning may be very limited.

The project builds on WORK IT OUT WOMBATS!, a national PBS KIDS TV series debuting in spring 2023 that capitalizes on the power of appealing characters and relatable storylines to teach foundational CT concepts to preschoolers.

As part of the NSF-funded project, GBH producers and EDC researchers are working with library professionals and rural communities in Mississippi and Kentucky to create and test a series of mobile apps for families that feature WORK IT OUT WOMBATS! stories and characters. Each app features 5 activities, consisting of an animated video and a related hands-on exploration. As they complete activities, parents/caregivers are prompted to photograph their children. The app uses the photographs to create a short music video that helps families reflect on their CT experience. To enhance families’ use of and learning from the apps, the team is creating a new implementation model that trains and supports librarians to become parent coaches.

This work is based on the ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), which describes layered environmental influences on a child’s development. In this case, we are focused on children’s development of CT skills through their interactions with family members and community settings (considered to be part of the “microsystem”), and through connections among different environments of the microsystem, like relationships among caregivers and library staff (“mesosystem”). We will also consider children’s interactions with technology (“technosubsystem”), as theorized by Johnson and Puplampu (2008).

Research questions are:
What supports do parents and caregivers of preschoolers in rural communities need in order to effectively engage in CT with their children at home?
How can libraries in rural communities support joint CT exploration in family homes?
How can an intervention that combines media resources, mobile technology, and library supports foster sustained joint engagement and positive attitudes around CT?

To investigate these questions, the team is undertaking an iterative process to conceptualize, pilot, and revise an implementation model, family apps, and library guidance. EDC will also develop and revise outcome measures, including a parent/caregiver survey to measure families' use of the apps, parent attitudes towards CT and strategies for engaging kids in CT, and children’s CT learning; and a library worker survey to measure librarians’ attitudes towards CT, as well as their self-efficacy in serving as parent “coaches” of CT.

The team is currently pilot testing the implementation model, one prototype app, and corresponding library guidance with 30 families and 3-6 librarians in rural Mississippi. This presentation will share the model and resources created, along with findings from the pilot study.

Authors

• Jessica Andrews, WGBH Educational Foundation
  Presenting Author

• Camille Ferguson, Education Development Center, Inc.
  Presenting Author

• Jillian Orr, WGBH Educational Foundation
  Non-Presenting Author

• Mary A. Haggerty, WGBH Educational Foundation
  Non-Presenting Author

• Marisa Wolsky, WGBH Educational Foundation
  Non-Presenting Author

• Janna Fuccillo Kook, Education Development Center, Inc.
  Non-Presenting Author