Pedagogical Experts' Views on the Integration of Social Studies and Computational Thinking: Cautions and Connections

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Eight
  In Roundtable Session: Exploring Teachers' Beliefs, Views, and Perspectives (Table 7)

Abstract

The call for improved civic education and computational thinking (CT) instruction offers an opportunity for increased integration of CT in social studies classrooms. As part of a larger research project about integrating CT into the humanities, we conducted a Delphi study to understand how social studies experts including higher education and K-12 educators as well as curriculum developers viewed the role of CT for enhancing middle school social studies instruction and learning. Our results indicated that participants found a strong alignment between social studies and CT around critical analysis of data, finding patterns in historical phenomena, and understanding the role of computing in society; however, they also cautioned against simplifying complex historical phenomena through a strictly algorithmic approach.

Authors

• Kyle Dunbar, Digital Promise
  Presenting Author

• Aman Yadav, Michigan State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Rafi Santo, Telos Learning LLC
  Non-Presenting Author

• Secil Caskurlu, Florida State University
  Non-Presenting Author