Challenges and Opportunities in Justice-Centered Secondary Computer Science Teacher Education (Poster 3)

• In Event: Opportunities and Challenges in Teaching Algorithmic Justice in K–12 Computing Education

Abstract

Objectives: Computer Science (CS) certification and endorsements are rapidly becoming part of the teacher prep landscape in the United States (Delyser, 2018). So far, efforts have not yet examined how to do this from a critical lens. Which Kafai et al. define as examining and resisting oppressive power structures in the context of learning CS (2019). This paper aims to understand the problem of practice of engaging teachers to teach computer science from a justice perspective.
Theoretical framework: Building on Freire’s (Freire, 2000) concepts that in order to arrive at critical consciousness, you must engage in critical discourse to better understand the world around us and our roles in that world, we structured our program to allow teacher candidates to engage in that discourse and prepare to engage students in that dialogue.
Methods & Data Sources: Two cohorts of a new Justice Centered Computer Science Teacher Endorsement program participated in an Auto-ethnographic case study (Patton, 2015). Over the course of the cohorts, instructors gathered their own reflections and took notes on their discussions. We also gathered teacher candidate reflections and assignments completed as part of course work. The final data came from notes and reflections captured during a discussion group where we invited both cohorts to share their current trajectories in the classroom.
Emerging Results: Our emerging results were that we observed a Critical Awakening as predicted by Friere. However, the critical awakening was more than just technical, it was also socio-technical. It began with the technical often from a teacher candidate’s hobbyist lens and extended from just the programs candidates were creating to an examination of how those programs could affect the world around them. In order to engage, they needed to take a critical lens to their current understandings of the technology and their hobbies. Teacher candidates made a commitment and shared that they shifted their beliefs. We also observed that instructor care provided an access point for that commitment and shift in beliefs.
Significance: This paper examines strategies to train and support teachers to teach CS from a critical perspective well. Additionally, it is important to determine if this a scalable method for engaging current and future teachers in algorithmic justice practices, and help teachers navigate this complicated landscape and feel confident leading critical classrooms.

Authors

• Jayne Everson, University of Washington

• Amy J. Ko, University of Washington