Student-Centered Computational Thinking for Children With Disabilities

• In Event: Centering Equity in STEM+C Education

Abstract

Student-centered pedagogies such as Universal Design for Learning and Coding as Another Language may provide opportunities for students with disabilities to access high-quality computational thinking education, but the outcomes of such curricula have not yet been assessed. In this paper, students with and without disabilities were assessed on CT knowledge before and after a CT curriculum based on the Coding as Another Language Framework. Students with disabilities had lower CT scores, but there was no interaction effect between pre-CT score and disability on post-CT score suggesting that the trajectory of CT learning was equal for students with and without disabilities. Model fit appeared to vary by students’ specific disability, suggesting that CT learning from the curricula may vary by disability.

Authors

• Tess Levinson, Boston College

• Marina U. Bers, Boston College