1873 Views (as of 05/2023)
  1. Lautaro Cabrera
  2. https://www.linkedin.com/in/lautaro-cabrera/
  3. Post-Doctoral Associate
  4. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  5. University of Maryland College Park, Arizona State University
  1. Kristina Anna Kramarczuk
  2. Graduate student
  3. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  4. University of Maryland College Park
  1. Ashley Coon
  2. http://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-coon-ph-d-14772573
  3. Post-Doctoral Associate
  4. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  5. University of Maryland College Park
  1. Francheska Figueroa
  2. Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College
  3. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  4. Arizona State University
  1. Diane Jass Ketelhut
  2. https://education.umd.edu/directory/diane-jass-ketelhut
  3. Professor
  4. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  5. University of Maryland College Park
  1. Janice Mak
  2. Clinical Assistant Professor
  3. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  4. Arizona State University
  1. Brian Nelson
  2. http://azdelta.org
  3. Professor
  4. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  5. Arizona State University
  1. Ebony Terrell Shockley
  2. https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=ebony+terrell+shockley+md&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
  3. Executive Director of Teacher Education
  4. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  5. University of Maryland College Park

Accessible Computational Thinking in Elementary Science Classes within and ac...

NSF Awards: 2101526

2022 (see original presentation & discussion)

Grades K-6

We present our plan to conduct a professional development series with elementary school teachers in three different states with the goal of supporting them in integrating computational thinking into their science lessons while implementing culturally responsive teaching practices.

This video has had approximately 260 visits by 197 visitors from 105 unique locations. It has been played 107 times as of 05/2023.
Click to See Activity Worldwide
Map reflects activity with this presentation from the 2022 STEM For All Video Showcase website, as well as the STEM For All Multiplex website.
Based on periodically updated Google Analytics data. This is intended to show usage trends but may not capture all activity from every visitor.
show more
Discussion from the 2022 STEM For All Video Showcase (19 posts)
  • Icon for: Diane Jass Ketelhut

    Diane Jass Ketelhut

    Co-Presenter
    Professor
    May 9, 2022 | 08:59 p.m.

    Hi! Thanks for visiting and viewing our video. Our project, Accessible Computational Thinking in Elementary Science Classes within and across Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Contexts-nicknamed ACT, is in its first year with our first implementation in a few weeks. Therefore, we are highlighting our design in this video while we prepare for our first professional development with elementary school teachers. We would love to hear your thoughts on the design work presented here!

    1. What experiences have you had with situating Computational Thinking and Science in a Culturally Responsive Teaching framework?

    2. What do you see as the most pressing issue with integrating these in an elementary science classroom?

    3. Lastly, we would love to hear your thoughts on any aspect of our project!

    Thanks for visiting and sharing!!!

  • Icon for: Troy Sadler

    Troy Sadler

    Professor
    May 10, 2022 | 08:15 a.m.

    Thanks for sharing an overview of the project and a description of the framework. I found the framework to present a new way of considering science teaching, CT, and culturally responsive teaching. It will be interesting to see how the framework can be leveraged for informing professional learning opportunities for teaching, classroom enactment of innovative practices, and research.

  • Icon for: Francheska Figueroa

    Francheska Figueroa

    Researcher
    May 10, 2022 | 05:31 p.m.

    In preparing the PD we used the spiral curriculum to show how we would integrate science, CT, and culturally responsive teaching throughout each day. We used Clarke & Hollingsworth’s (2002) model for professional growth to show how teachers can move from reflection to enactment through the PD experience. Teachers will develop lessons during the PD while receiving support from the research team and will then deliver those lessons while we observe during the fall. The research team will then collect data based on classroom enactment of those innovative practices.

  • Icon for: Margo Murphy

    Margo Murphy

    Facilitator
    Science Instructor
    May 10, 2022 | 08:31 a.m.

    This is really good work to synthesize and build a model or framework to implement the PD over the next two years.  Do you have any examples of how you will use this framework to build your PD sessions in both computational thinking and cultural responsiveness? I would love to see how you envision teachers will learn and grow.

  • Icon for: Kristina Anna Kramarczuk

    Kristina Anna Kramarczuk

    Co-Presenter
    Graduate student
    May 11, 2022 | 04:46 p.m.

    Thank you for your comment! Our framework represents how we are being mindful of the ways that we are introducing science, computational thinking, and cultural responsiveness together in elementary instruction. We are using our framework to develop guided and open-ended activities for teachers to navigate what culturally responsive CT-integrated learning may look like in their own classrooms and contexts. For example, we plan to introduce vignettes as examples of the integration of all three concepts together and give teachers spaces to reflect on what qualities they share with the teachers in the vignettes, to suggest ways they would improve the lessons in the vignettes based on their own prior knowledge of culturally responsive practices and CT instructions in science, and to identify areas of personal growth in their teaching that they may not have realized until reading the vignettes. A key part of our framework is to recognize that teachers are entering the PD with diverse understandings of science education, computational thinking, and culturally responsive teaching. The vignette activity, along with intentional self-reflection activities, provide teachers the opportunity to determine their starting places in the framework and to identify productive paths to move forward to develop effective, meaningful, and inclusive elementary CT-infused science lessons.

  • Icon for: Kathy Renfrew

    Kathy Renfrew

    Facilitator
    Education SPecialist
    May 10, 2022 | 08:43 a.m.

    As a former elementary classroom teacher, I think your framework includes a very necessary vision that of supporting the inservice teacher. Many of those teachers will be much more adept at culturally responsive teaching rather than science teaching or computational thinking within science instruction. I personally have become much more interested in the concept of computational thinking and I was wondering if you might share an example of science lesson that includes comptational thinking and your thoughts on how to be sure the lesson or unit was also being culturally responsive. I am also wondering about if you have thought about how your framework might leverage the current educational interest in comptuational thinking and culturally responsive teaching to increase the amount of time that is spent on science instruction in the elementary grades particularly, K-2.

  • Icon for: Ashley Coon

    Ashley Coon

    Co-Presenter
    Post-Doctoral Reseacher
    May 12, 2022 | 11:48 a.m.

    Hi Kathy, thank you for your comment!  Elementary science lessons that include computational thinking are available via the websites of Digital Promise and the NSTA  (for example, I was just reviewing this lesson available from NSTA: https://www.nsta.org/lesson-plan/why-my-shadow-always-changing), but I hope that you will also follow our ACT webpage at https://sites.google.com/umd.edu/accessible-ct, where we will continue to add additional resources as our project unfolds.

    Whether evaluating an existing lesson plan or creating a new lesson plan that includes a culturally responsive approach, our team has relied upon the Eight Competencies for Culturally Responsive Teaching (Muñiz, 2020), which remind us, among other things, to reflect on whether lessons incorporate students’ background knowledge, empower them to solve problems in their own lives and communities, and are scaffolded to support the achievement of all students.  

    While we hope that our work will draw new focus upon the value and utility of science instruction in the elementary grades, we have not yet discussed how to best leverage this interest - but we would love to hear your ideas about this!

  • Icon for: Kathy Renfrew

    Kathy Renfrew

    Facilitator
    Education SPecialist
    May 13, 2022 | 12:13 p.m.

    Currently time for science is at a premium where it exists at all. As I think about the components of your program and its well thought out program and its connections to culturally responsive teaching I think there is leverage possibilities especially when we begin to consider equity and access.

    On another note I am wondering what question you all have that is still lingering unanswered or a question you had hoped to answer in your work but that got put on the back burner for whatever reason. Are there anyof those type of questiions floating around in your thoughts?

  • Icon for: Diane Jass Ketelhut

    Diane Jass Ketelhut

    Co-Presenter
    Professor
    May 14, 2022 | 05:17 p.m.

    HI, Kathy! Thanks for giving us space to think about this. As our project is still in its first year, we are still in the idealistic phase of thinking we can do all that we want to and answer all of our questions. Ask us again next year! ;-)

  • Icon for: Daniel Serrano

    Daniel Serrano

    K-12 Administrator
    May 10, 2022 | 01:38 p.m.

    I was intrigued by the collaborative process you used to develop the models! Would love to hear more about how that was coordinated.

    It's very exciting to think about the possibilities that will come once the final model is implemented. Are there ways to stay updated about the project's next steps and news once the model is put into use?

  • Icon for: Francheska Figueroa

    Francheska Figueroa

    Researcher
    May 12, 2022 | 12:00 p.m.

    Hi Daniel thank you for your comment and interest in our project. And yes there are ways to stay updated about the project's next steps by visiting our website: https://sites.google.com/umd.edu/accessible-ct

    We will update our website as the project continues to unfold!

  • Icon for: Janice Mak

    Janice Mak

    Co-Presenter
    Clinical Assistant Professor
    May 13, 2022 | 10:35 a.m.

    Hi Daniel,

    Thank you for your interest in the process for developing our model. The collaborative process we used to develop our model is the topic of a poster that will be shared at RESPECT 2022. Our team focused on designing a model that best reflects our shared understanding of CRT, CT, and science teaching and the key elements of their intersection. During the initial phase (exploration) of our modified e-Delphi approach, each researcher first created a model that reflected their individual conceptualization of CT-infused science and Culturally Responsive Teaching. The result of this exploration phase was a set of 12 unique models that varied in terms of granularity and in the ways the relationships were conceptualized, displayed and formatted. The team facilitator  then organized the 12 individual models into three groups containing four contrasting, individual models to elicit discussion. Based on the divergent characteristics seen in the initial set of 12 models, we ended up with a set of three abstracted, curriculum integration models. We discussed the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of each model and considered their respective implications for teacher professional development and classroom instruction and decided on our final consensus-model.

  • Icon for: Latrenda Knighten

    Latrenda Knighten

    Facilitator
    Mathematics Content Trainer
    May 11, 2022 | 04:09 p.m.

    Thanks for sharing your project!  As someone who works very closely with teachers, I REALLY love the process you used to gather information about the diverse needs of your teachers.  I like that you didn't take a "cookie cutter" approach and designed a framework that will address the needs of a diverse group of learners. The focus on content knowledge and pedagogy will help ensure teacher confidence and success.  You mentioned that your project will include two years of summer PD accompanied by support during the academic year.  I was pleased to see this well-thought out plan. Could you share some examples of the types of support you plan to offer during the academic year? Will teachers attend additional PD sessions? have support from a content specialist or member of your team? Will teachers meet as a team to share and/or reflect on their experiences? 

    Thanks.

  • Icon for: Ashley Coon

    Ashley Coon

    Co-Presenter
    Post-Doctoral Reseacher
    May 11, 2022 | 05:55 p.m.

    Thank you for commenting on our video, Latrenda.  During the academic year, we will form a hybrid support community, where participating teachers from different sites can attend “office hours” held by members of our team.  During this time, teachers can collaborate, ask questions, receive feedback, or just check-in.  Team members will also be visiting the classrooms of participating teachers to observe science lessons that incorporate computational thinking and culturally responsive teaching practices, and supporting the enactment of those lessons through pre- and post-observation meetings.  But, this element of our work is still under design, so if you have suggestions, we’d love to hear them!

     
    1
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Latrenda Knighten
  • Icon for: Emily Harris

    Emily Harris

    Researcher
    May 14, 2022 | 05:53 p.m.

    Thanks for sharing your model and process for development! I'm curious what kinds of curricular resources teachers will draw on as they work to integrate culturally responsive practices and computational thinking into their science instruction? Are teachers building on existing district adopted science units, units your project is sharing, units of their own design, or something else? 

  • Icon for: Francheska Figueroa

    Francheska Figueroa

    Researcher
    May 14, 2022 | 07:53 p.m.

    Hi Emily,

    Thank you for your questions! We are asking teachers to bring to the summer workshop a science lesson they have taught during the school year. During the first summer workshop we will emphasize how to integrate CT into their science lessons and how to teach these lessons through culturally responsive teaching, focusing on building teacher self-efficacy for CT and culturally responsive teaching. The summer workshops, during year one and two, will concentrate learning on teachers’ own classrooms, and co-designing lessons with the research team to develop communities of practice to create the support foundation for the academic year. As we co-develop lesson plans for use in the academic year that integrate CT and CRT into science the research team will then observe the lesson during the academic year. Next, we will ask teachers to reflect upon the CT/culturally responsive teaching-infused lessons and join a hybrid CT/culturally responsive teaching learning community. All teachers will be collaboratively taught onsite and remotely by the full research team.

  • Icon for: Jennifer LaBombard-Daniels

    Jennifer LaBombard-Daniels

    K-12 Administrator
    May 15, 2022 | 02:17 p.m.

    This sounds like a well planned and thought out study. Have you already implemented the first PD. And if so what was the feedback or coaching model that you use to follow up with the teachers? This is one of the struggles we have is continually reinforcing our VA CS standards and rolling them out in all K-4 classrooms we work with. Would love to touch base on ideas. 

     

  • Icon for: Ashley Coon

    Ashley Coon

    Co-Presenter
    Post-Doctoral Reseacher
    May 16, 2022 | 03:38 p.m.

    Hi Jennifer, thank you for your comment!  We will begin implementing this summer, and plan to support our teachers throughout the school year through the creation of a hybrid support community, where our team members will hold office hours to provide feedback and collaborate with participating teachers across our sites.  We will also be conducting classroom observations during our teacher’s CT and culturally responsive teaching-infused science lessons, and further supporting their enactment of those lessons through pre- and post-observation meetings. Since we haven’t yet implemented, we’d love to stay in touch and benefit from your experience with any advice you have to offer - you can contact us at djk@umd.edu and follow our project at https://sites.google.com/umd.edu/accessible-ct

     
    1
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Jennifer LaBombard-Daniels
  • Icon for: Jennifer LaBombard-Daniels

    Jennifer LaBombard-Daniels

    K-12 Administrator
    May 16, 2022 | 05:22 p.m.

    I would love to keep in touch and see how your progression is rolling out. We are working with a company this year to turn our curriculum into VR applications and lots of information could be shared to learn for both. Thank you so much

    Jen

    labombardj@wps.k12.va.us

     

     

  • Further posting is closed as the event has ended.