I Do, We Do, You Do: Introducing Computational Thinking to Teacher Education Faculty and Students

• In Event: Fostering Equity Through Computing and Digital Literacy Integration in Urban Community College Teacher Education Programs

Abstract

This paper examines the experiences, shift in attitude, and changes in self-efficacy after a department-wide intervention that introduced CT concepts to both pre-service teachers and teacher education faculty. Our teacher education department (TED) is in a large urban community college and offers programs in early childhood, childhood, bilingual, and secondary education. TED students often enter the field with math and STEM anxiety which they then transmit to their own students upon becoming teachers, perpetuating the stigma around women and STEM, (Yadav and Mayfield, 2014). Therefore TED faculty sought to increase student confidence and self-efficacy about CT concepts.

In this work, we posit that providing positive STEM experiences to TED students through training in CT and a collaboration with the campus Makerspace early in their studies can reduce these negative dispositions, and transform the students’ relationship to STEM. This transformation can support their ability to address these subject matters in their future classrooms (Wynn Harper, N. & Daane, C. J. 1998). Integrating technology into teacher education programs can help mitigate the digital divide by supporting equitable opportunities for developing CT beginning in early childhood (Yuan & Patel, 2022). While CT have been investigated in higher education (Wing, 2006), there is a dearth of research focused on how to support pre-service teachers to understand and develop CT pedagogies or the training of pre-service teachers at community colleges.

In order to begin the integration of CT concepts into TED courses and curriculum, the researchers knew that our faculty would need extensive training in CT as well. Between 2022-2023, TED faculty received training in CT concepts through a citywide initiative called Computer Integrated Teacher Education (CITE) training on how to introduce CT concepts to pre-service teachers and integrate these concepts into teacher education coursework and artifacts. Students in our psychological foundations courses (n=98) and all faculty in TED participated in this study. We administered a baseline 22 item pre- test was completed by 98 students before they were introduced to CT concepts, as was an 8 item post-test. Process elements were assessed via open-ended short answer questions to determine changes to their understanding of problem- solving and reasoning before and after exposure to the new CT concepts.

Early results indicate that students have low self efficacy regarding CT concepts and the initial introduction of these concepts was very stressful to students. After participating in workshops on CT concepts and low stakes tinkering and activities, students felt more confident with concepts and had greater self-efficacy. This work is significant as it can be used to further develop future interventions with the ultimate goal of engaging all faculty and students in CT concepts and can inform practice for other institutions serving marginalized populations.

Authors

• Cara Kronen, Borough of Manhattan Community College

• Rebecca Garte, Borough of Manhattan Community College

• Jennifer Gilken, Borough of Manhattan Community College