DOI
10.26716/jcsi.2023.10.17.40
Abstract
This study documents novice science and math teachers’ developing pedagogical approaches to integrating computational thinking (CT) and data into their courses to support educational equity and social justice. The 10 novice teacher candidates (TCs) studied were part of an urban teacher residency program that empowered them with an asset-based pedagogy we describe as “CT for Equity.” Drawing on coursework and interviews as data, we asked three questions: What are teachers’ conceptions of CT? What are their CT instructional practices? And how did their students respond to those practices? To explore conceptions of CT, we used Kafai et al.’s (2020) articulation of three frames of CT – cognitive, situated, and critical approaches – and found that the TCs’ conceptions do not narrowly fit into one of the three frames, but rather they mix and match components of the perspectives to support a range of student outcomes, from transferable skills to preparing youth to explore social justice issues. We also identified a small but powerful set of core practices that the teachers used to support learning outcomes, including integrating data on locally and socially relevant issues. We present group-level trends and three classroom stories, or profiles of practice, to illustrate the generative ways TCs blended priorities from the three frames in instruction. The diversity in the TCs’ conceptions and practices deepens understandings of asset-based pedagogies in CT by shining light on the rich and varied ways that math and science teachers meet the needs of their minoritized students.
Publication Date
10-17-2023
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Clark, H. F., Gyles, S. A., & Nava-Landeros, I. (2023). Teacher Candidates’ Conceptions and Practices of Computational Thinking for Equity. Journal of Computer Science Integration, 6(1), 6. https://doi.org/10.26716/jcsi.2023.10.17.40
Included in
Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Commons, Computer Engineering Commons, Cybersecurity Commons, Programming Languages and Compilers Commons, Science and Mathematics Education Commons, Secondary Education Commons, Software Engineering Commons