Computing Impacts and Ethics in the New CSTA Standards Draft: A Synthesis of Expert Perspectives

• In Event: Can Education Stop Killer Robots? Exploring Values, Ethics, and Impacts in K12 Computer Science Instruction

Abstract

Purpose & Background
Since the Computer Science Teacher Association (CSTA) last updated its K12 computer science (CS) standards in 2017, educators and researchers have made powerful strides in conceptualizing how to teach and learn about the social impacts and ethics of computing (e.g., Vakil & Higgs, 2019). The Amplifying Social Impacts of Computing (ASICS) project seeks to support writers of a revised set of CSTA standards (to be released in 2026) in incorporating these efforts through activities such as gathering expert perspectives on the CSTA standards draft’s impacts and ethics focus. This poster summarizes these recommendations.

Methods
Sixteen expert-reviewers were provided with a draft of the new CSTA standards and asked to provide feedback through: 1) written reviews; 2) in-line comments; 3) a survey; and 4) focus group discussions with one another about the reviews. The written reviews were synthesized through a thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke 2006). The focus group recordings and survey were corroborated with the reviews during the theming process to come up with recommendations. The in-line comments were organized into a spreadsheet to support their synthesis into recommendations to CSTA standards writers.

Results
The analyses resulted in 17 recommendations, organized into four themes:

Political Courage"
-Embrace political courage in taking a clear, uncompromising stance on computing impacts and ethics.

Root in a Coherent Vision of Computing Impacts and Ethics:
-Tone down implicit techno-optimism/techno-solutionism present in parts of the standards.
-Evaluating social impacts through multiple clearly defined ethical frameworks.
-Broaden how students are invited to understand computational harms and how they come about.
-Addressing computing’s environmental impacts (beyond a focus on humans).
Portray a more nuanced and expansive historical perspective in the History of Computing subtopic.
-Elevate pro-social, generative, and justice-oriented uses of computing in society.
Center possibilities for reimagining the future of computing within Emerging Technologies.

Elevate Student Agency through Applied Ethical and Critical Practices
-Tighter coupling of technical and critical inquiry with design practices.
-Encourage civic practices—voice, reimagining, and refusal —that respond to impacts of computing.
-Include more content on practices that support the critical evaluation of data as value-laden.
-Portray a more nuanced, expansive conception of careers and ‘real world’ application of CS.

Aim for Consistent Application of this Vision Across the Standards
-Clarification and consistency of vocabulary and key terms.
-Ensure cross-band vertical progressions of ethics and impacts-related content.
-Raise the ceiling for PreK-5 engagement with impacts and ethics-related content.
-Integrate real-world examples and personal connections more cohesively across grade-bands.
-Represent ethics and impacts in specialty standards more comprehensively.

Scholarly significance
In response to the standards writers’ desire for concrete feedback, the recommendations were synthesized to help guide how the standards might be revised and improved in ways that these experts believed would not only meet our collective moment, but maintain relevance into the next decade. Expert reflections on the CSTA standards draft serve as a valuable guiding compass regarding where computing education can and should go in order to prepare young people to be critical creators and users of technology in the uncertain future.

Authors

• David Phelps, Telos Learning LLC

• Jean J. Ryoo, University of California - Los Angeles

• Rafi Santo, Telos Learning LLC

• Michael L. Lachney, Michigan State University