Early Childhood Teachers’ Use of Asset-Based Computational Thinking Pedagogy: Centering Students’ Expertise and Life Experiences

• In Event: Strategies for Broadening Teachers’ Views of Early-Grade Learners’ Competencies Through Computational Thinking

Abstract

Objectives
Computational thinking (CT) is central to computer science (CS), yet there is a gap in the literature on how CT develops in early childhood, especially for children from historically marginalized communities. A lack of access to computational materials and effective instruction can create inequities that have lasting effects on young children (Chaudry, et al., 2017). To alleviate the pervasiveness of such inequities and remedy the “pedagogical dominance of Whiteness” (Baines et al., 2018, p. 10), asset-based CS pedagogies and culturally relevant approaches are needed (Madkins et al., 2019).

Understanding how teachers provide asset-based, culturally responsive opportunities for CT in early childhood classrooms remains largely unknown. The purpose of this paper is to share a subset of findings from a qualitative ethnographic study that explored the ways in which early childhood teachers (ECTs) learned and implemented CT using asset-based pedagogies. The research question addressed follows: In what ways do ECTs use asset-based pedagogies while implementing CT in their classrooms?

Theoretical Framework
We leaned on generative change theories (Ball, 2009) and asset-based pedagogies to explore how teachers make connections with their students’ lived experiences and their cultural assets, and plan instruction based on the relationship between professional knowledge, personal knowledge and knowledge gained from students. For Ball (2012), as teachers learn new practices they must also acknowledge that students possess unique life experiences and abilities that can be leveraged to foster more effective and meaningful learning experiences (Goodwin, 2004). We were interested in understanding how teachers used asset-based pedagogies in their learning process that helped to “free students to be who they are and enable them to live effectively, appropriately, and justly” (Goodwin, 2005, p. 38) while advancing a vision of what is possible in computer science (Harper et al., 2023).

Methods and Data
Qualitative methodology guided the data collection and analysis of this study. Interviews, classroom observations, and videos were collected from 26 early childhood teachers during a yearlong professional learning project that included a two-week summer institute, follow-up coaching, observations, and group meetups. An inductive and deductive hybrid approach (Crabtree & Miller, 1999) was used to identify emerging themes and document teachers’ learning and asset-based pedagogy. Interview transcripts and classroom observations were coded on tenets of asset-based pedagogies (Goodwin, 2005). Videos were used to triangulate the data.

Results
The analysis revealed five themes that illustrate the ways in which teachers implemented asset-based pedagogies while implementing CT in their classrooms: Centering students’ expertise; Nurturing multiple ways of knowing and doing CT; Developing meaningful communities through inclusive talk; Noticing and naming CT everywhere; and, Connecting CT to students’ linguistic abilities and interests.

Scholarly Significance
By using asset-based CT pedagogy, teachers supported students’ identity development and increased their engagement and interest in CS. Teachers gained a deeper understanding and critique of inequities in computing and provided instruction that challenged deficit beliefs that too often oppress and limit students who have been historically marginalized. Asset-based pedagogy served as a catalyst for change in how teachers viewed students’ abilities and how they integrated CT.

Authors

• Lori Czop Assaf, Texas State University

• Sean Justice, Texas State University