This looks like a fantastic project. Kudos and you get my vote for public choice!

Thank you so much for your encouragement; we are very excited about this work!

Thank you so much Myriam. Our overall topic of the unit is invasive species. Within this unit, we wanted to make sure to address specific invasive species options that are geographically relevant. We are also providing additonal options for invasive species that may be personally interesting to students. Rather than focusing on groups of students as homogeneous groups, we are attempting to have as much flexibility as possible.

The professional learning materials include videos and resources that directly show where and how culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) and universal design for learning (UDL) are embedded in the lesson plans. We are also using icons within the lessons to key in on places where pedagogies align with CRP and UDL. 

Thanks, Myriam! It is definitely an interesting learning experience. Our pilot classrooms are more than halfway through the module right now and our partner teachers report their keen interest – particularly in one of our essential questions: How can computers help with problems of invasive species in the natural world?
As Maya points out, we have leaned into specificity as a way to meet the needs of our diverse group of pilot students. In addition to pre-loading a variety of different species for students to consider, we provide authentic examples from online news media and social media, including in languages other than English.
Our component-based research will guide our analysis of pilot and field test data to determine which of the lesson features have an impact on particular populations. So stay tuned to our project for more on that next year!

Hi Myriam - as Carla mentioned, we are using a component-based research approach that will enable us to do analyses that examine not only if students experiencing the module had more desired outcomes than the comparison group but also, which parts of the module were most associated with which outcomes, for which populations. We have found the component-based approach to be a powerful way to support more equitable practice. 

Hi David. Bringing together PBL + CRP + UDL is a lot! In fact, we got that feedback from our practice teachers during our unit development. Because of this, we are attempting to build pedagogical practices aligned with these frameworks into the lessons themselves and then cue the teachers to these approaches rather than asking them to connect the dots themselves.  One of our main questions is whether we can develop these types of materials in a way that teachers can pick them up and use CRP and UDL because they are "baked into" the lessons themselves. We then have videos and resources to show teachers how these lesson features align with PBL, CRP, and UDL. Because CRP and UDL are implemented and not lesson features, one of our research questions relates to how these are implemented in practice. 

Thanks for this question, Noelani. Maya has answered below about offering opportunities for choice, an important tenet of both UDL and CRP.

Though we forefront the use of coding in about half of the lessons, because we are after all finding "time for CS," we do offer students a range of both computer-based and unplugged options for expressing their understanding. Besides coding in Sprite Lab, students are encouraged to discuss, write, draw flowcharts, make posters, and create comics about invasive species. We have seeded the lessons with examples of these different options and are looking forward to seeing what else our pilot students come up with! We will have time this summer to add additional options and examples to enhance the materials before the full field test in the fall. Being responsive to the value our students+families bring to the classroom and this research is yet another way that we get to honor student voices, per CRP.