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Designing a Middle School Science Curriculum that Integrates Computational Thinking and Sensor Technology

Authors:

Alexandra Gendreau Chakarov,

Jennifer Jacobs,

Katie Van Horne,

Tamara SumnerAuthors Info & Claims

SIGCSE '19: Proceedings of the 50th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

Pages 818 - 824

https://doi.org/10.1145/3287324.3287476

Published: 22 February 2019 Publication History

Abstract

This experience report describes two iterations of a curriculum development process in which middle school teachers worked with our research team to collaboratively design and enact instructional units where students used sensors to investigate scientific phenomena. In this report, we examine the affordances of using a sensor platform to support the integration of disciplinary learning and computational thinking (CT) aligned with Next Generation Science Standards and the CT in STEM Taxonomy developed by Weintrop and colleagues. In the first unit, students investigated the conditions for mold growth within their school using a custom sensor system. After analyzing implementation experiences and student interest data, our team engaged in another round of co-design to develop a second instructional unit. This unit uses a different sensor system (the micro:bit) which supports additional CT in STEM practices due to its block-based programming interface and its real time data display. For the second unit we selected a different phenomenon: understanding and designing maglev trains.

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Cited By

Baberowski DLeonhardt TBergner N(2024)Digital Fabrication als Brücke zwischen Making und InformatikMedienPädagogik: Zeitschrift für Theorie und Praxis der Medienbildung10.21240/mpaed/56/2024.02.05.X56(314-330)Online publication date: 5-Feb-2024
https://doi.org/10.21240/mpaed/56/2024.02.05.X
Magda DGardner-McCune CJimenez YChu SKulkarni AStephenson BStone JBattestilli LRebelsky SShoop L(2024)The Integration of Computational Thinking and Making in the ClassroomProceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3626252.3630948(778-784)Online publication date: 7-Mar-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626252.3630948
Sunday AAgbo FSuhonen J(2024)Co-design Pedagogy for Computational Thinking Education in K-12: A Systematic Literature ReviewTechnology, Knowledge and Learning10.1007/s10758-024-09765-yOnline publication date: 6-Aug-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10758-024-09765-y
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Index Terms

Designing a Middle School Science Curriculum that Integrates Computational Thinking and Sensor Technology
1. Computer systems organization
  1. Embedded and cyber-physical systems
    1. Sensors and actuators
2. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education

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cover image ACM Conferences

SIGCSE '19: Proceedings of the 50th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

February 2019

1364 pages

ISBN:9781450358903

DOI:10.1145/3287324

General Chairs:
Elizabeth K. Hawthorne
Union County College, USA
,
Manuel A. Pérez-Quiñones
University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA
,
Program Chairs:
Sarah Heckman
North Carolina State University, USA
,
Jian Zhang
Texas Woman's University, USA

Copyright © 2019 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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SIGCSE: ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education

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Published: 22 February 2019

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SIGCSE '19: The 50th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

February 27 - March 2, 2019

MN, Minneapolis, USA

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SIGCSE '19 Paper Acceptance Rate 169 of 526 submissions, 32%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 1,595 of 4,542 submissions, 35%

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December 5 - 8, 2024

Virtual Event , NC , USA

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Cited By

Baberowski DLeonhardt TBergner N(2024)Digital Fabrication als Brücke zwischen Making und InformatikMedienPädagogik: Zeitschrift für Theorie und Praxis der Medienbildung10.21240/mpaed/56/2024.02.05.X56(314-330)Online publication date: 5-Feb-2024
https://doi.org/10.21240/mpaed/56/2024.02.05.X
Magda DGardner-McCune CJimenez YChu SKulkarni AStephenson BStone JBattestilli LRebelsky SShoop L(2024)The Integration of Computational Thinking and Making in the ClassroomProceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3626252.3630948(778-784)Online publication date: 7-Mar-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626252.3630948
Sunday AAgbo FSuhonen J(2024)Co-design Pedagogy for Computational Thinking Education in K-12: A Systematic Literature ReviewTechnology, Knowledge and Learning10.1007/s10758-024-09765-yOnline publication date: 6-Aug-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10758-024-09765-y
Shehzad URecker MClarke-Midura JDoyle MStephenson BDorn BSoh LBattestilli L(2023)A Literature Review Examining Broadening Participation in Upper Elementary CS EducationProceedings of the 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3545945.3569873(570-576)Online publication date: 2-Mar-2023
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Jackson DCheng YMeng QXu Y(2022)“Smart” greenhouses and pluridisciplinary spaces: supporting adolescents’ engagement and self-efficacy in computation across disciplinesDisciplinary and Interdisciplinary Science Education Research10.1186/s43031-022-00046-14:1Online publication date: 1-Feb-2022
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Castañeda-Miranda VLuque-Vega LLopez-Neri ENava-Pintor JGuerrero-Osuna HOrnelas-Vargas G(2021)Two-Dimensional Cartesian Coordinate System Educational Toolkit: 2D-CACSETSensors10.3390/s2118630421:18(6304)Online publication date: 21-Sep-2021
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Gendreau Chakarov ABiddy QHennessy Elliott CRecker M(2021)The Data Sensor Hub (DaSH): A Physical Computing System to Support Middle School Inquiry Science InstructionSensors10.3390/s2118624321:18(6243)Online publication date: 17-Sep-2021
https://doi.org/10.3390/s21186243
Cao JChan SGarbett DDenny PNassani AScholl PNanayakkara SRoussou MShahid SFails JLandoni M(2021)Sensor-Based Interactive Worksheets to Support Guided Scientific InquiryProceedings of the 20th Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference10.1145/3459990.3460716(1-7)Online publication date: 24-Jun-2021
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Nava-Pintor JGuerrero-Osuna HLuque-Vega LOrnelas-Vargas GLopez-Neri ECarrasco-Navarro R(2021)Design and Implementation of an Educational Technology Kit Aligned to the Conceptual Framework of Educational Mechatronics2021 Machine Learning-Driven Digital Technologies for Educational Innovation Workshop10.1109/IEEECONF53024.2021.9733780(1-8)Online publication date: 15-Dec-2021
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Jackson DCheng Y(2021)Maintaining pluralism when embedding computational thinking in required science and engineering classes with young adolescentsComputer Science Education10.1080/08993408.2021.194078732:2(235-259)Online publication date: 17-Jun-2021
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