A Learning Ecology View of Experienced Computer Science Teachers’ Challenges and Resourcefulness (Poster 10)

• In Event: Expansive Framings of “Capacity Building” in Computing Education: Agency, Infrastructuring, and Advocacy

Abstract

As demand for computer science (CS) in K-12 education has increased, nearly all current professional development (PD) efforts have focused on inducting teachers new to CS (e.g., Goode et al., 2014). Yet retaining CS teachers comes with many challenges that stretch beyond content: for instance, intentional recruitment with the purpose of disrupting stereotypes about who should take CS with students, counselors and administrators (Koshey et al., 2021), and a general lack of professional community, often characterized as only one CS teacher within a school or even a district (DeLyser et al., 2018). To better understand the needs of CS teachers, we need an expansive framing of CS teachers’ work that stretches beyond the walls of classrooms and schools into their communities.

In this paper we apply an ecological lens to understanding the challenges of 25 experienced CS teachers committed to equity-driven work across the United States (see Table 1). Drawing on Barron’s (2006) “learning ecology,” we argue that CS teachers’ are also situated in a learning ecology, with classes, supplies, schools, districts, teaching organizations, certifications, levels of policy, and cultural norms (e.g., about who should be a computer scientist) shaping their work. Taking this expansive view of teachers’ learning ecologies we ask: 1) What kinds of challenges do experienced CS teachers face? 2) What kinds of resources do teachers draw on to face those challenges?

Our data collection focused on hour-long, semi-structured interviews conducted and recorded over zoom video chat. The teachers had at least two years of experience in the Exploring Computer Science (ECS) program, which includes a two-year professional development focused on equity, inquiry, and content. Data analysis followed a two-step open coding approach built on grounded theory. We member-checked findings with several of the teachers and an advisory board of CS education experts.

In brief, our findings identified several categories of challenges teachers face, including 1) finding community to develop CS content knowledge, share curricular development, support classroom practice, and find encouragement and a sense of belonging, 2) managing a vast workload that involves teaching many preps, recruiting students, conducting outreach at their schools as well as primary and middle schools, keeping up with changing CS and technology content, differentiating courses for an ever-changing set of students with varying backgrounds with CS, and developing multi-course pathways. Yet teachers brought a number of creative resources to bear on these challenges, including networking statewide and nationally for community, leveraging knowledge of state and national education policies, creating outreach programs for students and families, building relationships with universities and job sites (e.g., for knowledge, for internships, for college credit for students), and drawing on family, friends, and diverse career and college backgrounds.

Our findings suggest a need for an expansive framing of CS teacher professional development for both preservice and inservice programs, designing for teachers learning and acting in environments influenced by rapidly changing technologies, student population, and state and federal policy. We must design supports with and for CS teachers in their creative, capacity-building work.

Authors

• Deborah Fields, Utah State University

• Yanil De La Rosa-Walcott, University of Pennsylvania

• Yasmin B. Kafai, University of Pennsylvania