Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
skip to main content
10.1145/3408877.3432482acmconferencesArticle/Chapter ViewAbstractPublication PagessigcseConference Proceedingsconference-collections
research-article
Public Access

I Felt Like We Were Actually Going Somewhere: Adapting Summer Professional Development for Elementary Teachers to a Virtual Experience During COVID-19

Published: 05 March 2021 Publication History

Abstract

In fall 2019, the National Science Foundation awarded Southern Oregon University a two-year Computer Science for All Researcher Practitioner Partnership grant focused on integrating computational thinking (CT) into the K'5 instruction of general elementary and elementary bilingual teachers. This experience report highlights the process of transitioning one essential component of the project an elementary teacher summer institute (SI) from in-person to online due to COVID-19. This report covers the approach the team took to designing the SI to work virtually, the challenges encountered, the experiences of the 15 teachers involved through observations and surveys, and the opportunities for refinement. This report will be of potential interest for other computer science (CS) education researchers who also may be working with elementary teachers to incorporate CS and CT activities into their instruction.

References

[1]
National Science Foundation. 2020. Computer science for all (CSforAll: Research and RPPs). Retrieved from https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2020/nsf20539/nsf20539.htm.
[2]
Research on Equity & Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing & Technology (RESPECT) 2020 IEEE Conference, March 2020. Portland, OR.
[3]
Yu-Chang Hsu, Natalie Roote Irie, and Yu-Hui Ching. 2019. Computational thinking educational policy initiatives (CTEPI) across the globe. TechTrends 63, 3 (May 2019), 260--270.
[4]
Irene Lee, Fred Martin, and Katie Apone. 2014. Integrating computational thinking across the K-8 curriculum. ACM Inroads 5, 4 (December 2014), 64--71.
[5]
Office of the Press Secretary. 2016. Remarks of President Barack Obama?State of the Union Address as delivered (Jan. 2016). Retrieved from https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/01/12/remarks-president-barack-obama-%E2%80%93-prepared-delivery-state-union-address.
[6]
Aman Yadav, Rachel Larimore, Kathryn Rich, and Christina Schwarz. 2019. Integrating computational thinking in elementary classrooms: Introducing a toolkit to support teachers. In Proceedings of the Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (SITE '19), March 18, 2019, Las Vegas, Nevada. AACE, Waynesville, NC, 347--350. Retrieved from https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/208366/.
[7]
Kevin P. Waterman, Lynn Goldsmith, and Marian Pasquale. 2020. Integrating computational thinking into elementary science curriculum: An examination of activities that support students? computational thinking in the service of disciplinary learning. Journal of Science Education and Technology 29, 1 (Feb. 2020), 53--64.
[8]
Ronald W. Marx and Christopher J. Harris. 2006. No child left behind and science education: Opportunities, challenges, and risks. The Elementary School Journal 106, 5 (May 2006), 467--478.
[9]
Maya Israel, Jamie N. Pearson, Tanya Tapia, Quentin M. Wherfel, and George Reese. 2015. Supporting all learners in school-wide computational thinking: A cross-case qualitative analysis. Computers & Education 82 (March 2015), 263--279.
[10]
Joanna Goode, Jane Margolis, and Gail Chapman. 2014. Curriculum is not enough: The educational theory and research foundation of the Exploring Computer Science professional development model. In Proceedings of the 45th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE '14). March 5 - 8, 2014, Atlanta, Georgia. ACM Inc., New York, NY, 493--498.
[11]
Elisa Nadire Caeli and Aman Yadav. 2020. Unplugged approaches to computational thinking: A historical perspective. TechTrends 64, 1 (January 2020), 29--36.
[12]
Emily Hestness, Diane Jass Ketelhut, J. Randy McGinnis, Jandelyn Plane, Bonnie Razler, Kelly Mills, Lautaro Cabrera, and Elias Gonzalez. 2018. Computational thinking professional development for elementary educators: Examining the design process. In Proceedings of the Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (SITE '18), March 26, 2018, Washington, D.C. AACE, Waynesville, NC, 1904--1912. Retrieved from https://www.learntechlib.org/ primary/p/182789/.
[13]
Diane Jass Ketelhut, Kelly Mills, Emily Hestness, Lautaro Cabrera, Jandelyn Plane, and J. Randy McGinnis. 2020. Teacher change following a professional development experience in integrating computational thinking into elementary science. Journal of Science Education and Technology 29, 1 (Feb. 2020), 174--188.
[14]
Yihuan Dong, Veronica Catete, Robin Jocius, Nicholas Lytle, Tiffany Barnes, Jennifer L. Albert, Deepti Joshi, Richard Robinson, and Ashley Andrews. 2019. PRADA: A practical model for integrating computational thinking in K-12 education. In Proceedings of the 50th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE '19). February 27 - March 2, 2019, Minneapolis, Minnesota. ACM Inc., New York, NY, 906--912.
[15]
Karen Brennan and Mitchel Resnick. 2012. New frameworks for studying and assessing the development of computational thinking. Paper presented at Annual American Educational Research Association (AERA '12) Conference, April 16, 2012 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Retrieved from http://scratched.gse.harvard.edu/ct/files/AERA2012.pdf.
[16]
Andrew Csizmadia, Paul Curzon, Mark Dorling, Simon Humphreys, Thomas Ng, Cynthia Selby, and John Woollard. 2015. Computational thinking: A guide for teachers. Retrieved from http://computingatschool.org.uk/computationalthinking.
[17]
David Weintrop, Elham Beheshti, Michael Horn, Kai Orton, Kemi Jona, Laura Trouille, and Uri Wilensky. 2016. Defining computational thinking for mathematics and science classrooms. Journal of Science Education and Technology 25, 1 (Feb. 2016), 127--147.
[18]
Nathan Bean, Joshua Weese, Russell Feldhausen, and R. Scott Bell. 2015. Starting from scratch: Developing a pre-service teacher training program in computational thinking. In Proceedings of the IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE '15), October 21 - 24, 2015, El Paso, Texas. IEEE Computer Society, Washington, DC, 1307--1314.
[19]
Kathryn M. Rich, Aman Yadav, and Rachel A. Larimore. 2020. Teacher implementation profiles for integrating computational thinking into elementary mathematics and science instruction. Education and Information Technologies 25, 4 (July 2020), 3161--3188.
[20]
Amanda Peel, Troy D. Sadler, and Patricia Friedrichsen. 2019. Learning natural selection through computational thinking: Unplugged design of algorithmic explanations. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 56, 7 (September 2019), 983--1007.
[21]
Joanna Goode and Jane Margolis. 2011. Exploring computer science: A case study of school reform. ACM Transactions on Computing Education 11, 2, Article 12 (July 2011), 16 pages.
[22]
Sian L Beilock, Elizabeth A. Gunderson, Gerardo Ramirez, and Susan C. Levine. 2010. Female teachers? math anxiety affects girls? math achievement. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107, 5 (Jan. 2010), 1861--1863.
[23]
Amy Brown, Aria Westenskow, and Patricia Moyer-Packenham. 2012. Teaching anxieties revealed: Pre-service elementary teachers? reflections on their mathematics teaching experiences. Teaching Education 23, 4 (Oct. 2012), 365--385.
[24]
Susan Lee Swars, C. J. Daane, and Judy Giesen. 2006. Mathematics anxiety and mathematics teacher efficacy: What is the relationship in elementary preservice teachers? School Science and Mathematics 106, 7 (Jan. 2006), 306--315.
[25]
Joanna Goode, Kirsten Peterson, and Gail Chapman. 2020. Online professional development for computer science teachers: Gender-inclusive instructional design strategies. International Journal of Gender, Science and Technology 11, 3 (Jan. 2020), 394--404. Retrieved from http://genderandset.open.ac.uk/index.php/genderandset/article/view/659.
[26]
Joanna Goode, Personal interview on June 4, 2020.
[27]
Peggy A. Ertmer. 1999. Addressing first- and second-order barriers to change: Strategies for technology integration. Educational Technology Research and Development 47, 4 (Dec. 1999), 47--61. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/30221096.

Cited By

View all
  • (2024)Bringing computational thinking into classrooms: a systematic review on supporting teachers in integrating computational thinking into K-12 classroomsInternational Journal of STEM Education10.1186/s40594-024-00510-611:1Online publication date: 7-Oct-2024
  • (2024)Balancing teachers’ needs in times of crisis: investigating how computer science instructional coaches and teachers navigated remote professional development during COVID-19Computer Science Education10.1080/08993408.2024.2313913(1-33)Online publication date: 6-Feb-2024
  • (2023)Computational thinking in a bilingual kindergarten classroom: Emergent ideas for teaching across content areasEducation and Information Technologies10.1007/s10639-022-11454-128:8(9767-9782)Online publication date: 18-Jan-2023
  • Show More Cited By

Index Terms

  1. I Felt Like We Were Actually Going Somewhere: Adapting Summer Professional Development for Elementary Teachers to a Virtual Experience During COVID-19

      Recommendations

      Comments

      Information & Contributors

      Information

      Published In

      cover image ACM Conferences
      SIGCSE '21: Proceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education
      March 2021
      1454 pages
      ISBN:9781450380621
      DOI:10.1145/3408877
      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]

      Sponsors

      Publisher

      Association for Computing Machinery

      New York, NY, United States

      Publication History

      Published: 05 March 2021

      Permissions

      Request permissions for this article.

      Check for updates

      Author Tags

      1. covid-19
      2. elementary teachers
      3. integrating computational thinking
      4. teacher professional development
      5. virtual engagement

      Qualifiers

      • Research-article

      Funding Sources

      Conference

      SIGCSE '21
      Sponsor:

      Acceptance Rates

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

      Upcoming Conference

      SIGCSE TS 2025
      The 56th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education
      February 26 - March 1, 2025
      Pittsburgh , PA , USA

      Contributors

      Other Metrics

      Bibliometrics & Citations

      Bibliometrics

      Article Metrics

      • Downloads (Last 12 months)62
      • Downloads (Last 6 weeks)11
      Reflects downloads up to 21 Jan 2025

      Other Metrics

      Citations

      Cited By

      View all
      • (2024)Bringing computational thinking into classrooms: a systematic review on supporting teachers in integrating computational thinking into K-12 classroomsInternational Journal of STEM Education10.1186/s40594-024-00510-611:1Online publication date: 7-Oct-2024
      • (2024)Balancing teachers’ needs in times of crisis: investigating how computer science instructional coaches and teachers navigated remote professional development during COVID-19Computer Science Education10.1080/08993408.2024.2313913(1-33)Online publication date: 6-Feb-2024
      • (2023)Computational thinking in a bilingual kindergarten classroom: Emergent ideas for teaching across content areasEducation and Information Technologies10.1007/s10639-022-11454-128:8(9767-9782)Online publication date: 18-Jan-2023
      • (2022)Primary Teachers Difficulties Related to Compulsory Distance Education During COVID-19Contemporary Educational Technology10.30935/cedtech/1158914:2(ep357)Online publication date: 2022
      • (2022)Practitioner Perspectives on COVID-19’s Impact on Computer Science Education Among High Schools Serving Students from Lower and Higher Income FamiliesACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/355704723:1(1-31)Online publication date: 29-Dec-2022
      • (2022)Comparison of CS Middle-School Instruction during Pre-Pandemic, Early-Pandemic and Mid-Pandemic School YearsProceedings of the 2022 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research - Volume 110.1145/3501385.3543974(282-293)Online publication date: 3-Aug-2022
      • (2022)Reimagining Professional Development for K-8 CS TeachersProceedings of the 53rd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education - Volume 110.1145/3478431.3499361(530-536)Online publication date: 22-Feb-2022

      View Options

      View options

      PDF

      View or Download as a PDF file.

      PDF

      eReader

      View online with eReader.

      eReader

      Login options

      Media

      Figures

      Other

      Tables

      Share

      Share

      Share this Publication link

      Share on social media