“We Had an Amazing Idea, but Then Someone Already Had It”: Norming “Novelty” in Early Childhood Computer Science (Poster 31)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Sunday 8:00 a.m.
  In Poster Session: Computational Thinking and Learning

Abstract

This paper explores how children new to coding inculcate norms of “newness,” or an expectation to create novel code. The context is a pilot study of second-grade children engaged in an integrated math-computer science lesson designed to teach multiplicative reasoning using a coding robot’s Loop command. Through qualitative analysis of children’s interactions, we focus on two groups who were pre-occupied with finding novel solutions as they learned how the Loop code worked and as they devised different solutions for moving a robot forward 8 moves. We relate findings to Yakel and Cobb’s (1996) mathematical norms, proposing a sociocomputational norm of “computational difference.” We discuss the norm of novelty in terms of preparing children for a tech culture that values innovation.

Authors

• Deborah Silvis, SUNY - College at Cortland

• Jody E. Clarke-Midura, Utah State University

• Jessica F. Shumway, Utah State University

• Anahita Ashineh, Utah State University

• Camille Lund, Utah State University