Piloting Professional Development for Indigenous Computer Science

• In Event: Promoting Equitable CS and AI Education: Strategies to Expand Capacity and Access

Abstract

Objectives or Purposes
Native American students have the least access to high school computer science education at only 66% as compared to other historically marginalized students who have access at rates of 80% or greater [2]. To address this disparity, Indigenous Education for Computer Science professional development (PD) was created for educators in a research-practice partnership that includes tribal communities in both public and tribal school settings. PD goals included: 1) Explaining why learning Native history and culture is important for all Minnesota students, including within the context of computer science; 2) Weaving authentic Native content and resources throughout K-12 computer science teaching; and 3) Developing a plan for continued learning with a goal of implementing the Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Computer Science Education (CRSCSE) framework. Twenty-one educators completed a one-day in-person PD then implemented an Indigenous CS lesson.
Theoretical framework
The CRSCSE framework [27] integrates frameworks from computer science (CS) education and culturally responsive and relevant pedagogy. CRSCSE includes six components that address racism in CS, family connections, classroom culture, rigorous curriculum, and more. This project included the framework in the professional development and curricular materials presented with a goal of expanding access for Indigenous students to engaging CS learning opportunities that connected to their culture.
Data Sources & Methods
At the end of the in-person PD, an exit survey was distributed. After implementing an Indigenous CS lesson, educators attended an online reflection session and completed a survey. Surveys included both quantitative and qualitative data. Descriptive statistics were generated for quantitative data and thematic analysis was conducted on qualitative data.
Results
All educators who participated in the professional development were able to implement an Indigenous CS lesson, with most using one created by the project team and some adapting or creating their own lessons. The reflection session indicated that teachers used a variety of existing sources for their lessons with a few creating their own, teachers would take more time to introduce tech tools in the future, and had students who were very engaged in the lessons. After the PD, teachers rated their ability to meet the workshop objectives on a 4-point Likert scale. Teachers felt most confident with explaining why learning Indigenous CS was important (3.64) and weaving Indigenous and CS concepts (3.50), however, they were less confident in using the CRSCSE framework (3.27).

Scholarly Significance
This project indicates that it is both possible and important for educators to understand connections between computer science and Indigenous knowledge and that utilizing Indigenous CS lessons and the CRSCSE framework helped them support Native students in their CS classrooms. The professional development therefore has the potential to expand access to CS for Native students.

Author

• Jennifer Rosato, University of Minnesota