2023
Make it Move!
Justice, S. & Assaf, L.C. (2023, October 19-21). Make it move!: Arts & inquiry approaches to computational thinking in teacher profession learning [Conference presentation]. Arts Education Research Institute 2023, Tucson, AZ, United States.
This study developed a teacher professional learning program centered on computational thinking (CT). Arts and inquiry approaches framed CT as expressive meaning making. Participants included preK-to-2nd grade teachers (n=27) in public schools in Texas. This paper argues that arts and inquiry approaches can be effective for early elementary teacher professional learning even in STEM domains considered non-expressive.
Keywords: teacher education; computational thinking; art; literacy
We_Teach CS Summit
Justice, S. & Assaf, L.C. (2023, June 16). PreK to 2nd grade teachers noticing, naming, & connecting computational thinking to literacy learning [Conference presentation]. WeTeach_CS Summitt, University of Texas at Austin. Houston, TX.
This presentation describes early elementary lesson plans that integrate CS/CT with reading, writing, and storytelling. In this study we found that PreK to 2nd grade teachers gravitated to ELA content when exploring computational thinking with their students. This presentation shares cross-curricular learning activities designed by teachers to combine CS/CT with literacy. Our goal is to unpack learning activities that expand PreK-2nd grade ELA content with computational tools and materials, where students design, write, and perform stories with ScratchJR, Scratch, and various robotics platforms.
CS in 6 CUNY for CITE
Justice, S. & Assaf, L.C. (2023, June 13). Everyday choreographies as pathways for building computational literacies: Noticing, naming, and connecting CT precursors to curriculum [Guest Speaker Series (Google slides)]. City University of New York, College of Staten Island, Computing in Teacher Education.
This presentation describes a 3-year study with early elementary teachers as they learned to integrate computational thinking (CT) within their established teaching practices. The study introduced teachers to CT with an inquiry-based, generative learning framework centered on tools and materials, aka “material inquiry”. After an initial CT learning institute, we observed teachers in their classrooms as they picked up and applied CT to their instruction. Among other takeaways, we have come to think of CT as a multimodal literacy rooted in everyday patterns of meaning making, or precursors.
Keywords: teacher education; computational thinking; precursors
K-5 PD Extravaganza
Justice, S. & Assaf, L.C. (2023, July 19). ScratchJr explorations: Noticing, naming, and connecting Tech App TEKS to Curriculum. [Workshop]. K-5 PD Extravaganza, WeTeach_CS, University of Texas at Austin. Round Rock, TX.
This workshop introduced K-5 teachers to ScratchJr as a multimodal literacy that connected with storytelling and supported the newly enacted Texas computing standards for elementary learning.
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