Strategies for Broadening Teachers’ Views of Early-Grade Learners’ Competencies Through Computational Thinking

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

This symposium highlights recent research that explores how the introduction of computational thinking as an explicit set of problem-solving strategies for young learners (pre-K–2) can shift teachers’ perceptions of their students as problem-solvers and analytic thinkers. Research from five different projects will be presented. Each project has engaged teachers who work with students from historically marginalized racial and ethnic backgrounds and has included examinations of how teachers’ perspectives of their students as competent and creative learners have been shaped by the introduction of computational thinking into their instructional repertoire. A discussant with expertise in measuring professional development impacts will reflect on how each project sought to provoke teacher change and how that professional growth might be sustained.

Sub Unit

• Division K - Teaching and Teacher Education / Division K - Section 10: Inservice Teacher Education and Teacher Educator Development

Chair

• Carol Fletcher, University of Texas at Austin

Papers

• Early Childhood Teachers’ Use of Asset-Based Computational Thinking Pedagogy: Centering Students’ Expertise and Life Experiences - Lori Czop Assaf, Texas State University; Sean Justice, Texas State University

• Developing a Framework for Accessible Computational Thinking in Elementary Science: A Participatory Approach - Janice Mak, Arizona State University

• Supporting Teacher Understanding of Computational Thinking as a Problem-Solving Strategy in Early Elementary Education - Heather Sherwood, Education Development Center, Inc.; Katherine McMillan Culp, New York Hall of Science; Camille Ferguson, Education Development Center, Inc.; Alice Kaiser, Education Development Center, Inc.

Discussant

• Carol Fletcher, University of Texas at Austin