Computer Science

SchoolWide Labs

Computer Science
Middle

The SchoolWide Lab middle school curriculum units are anchored in phenomena, aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards(NGSS) and purposefully integrate Computational Thinking (CT). To date, four units have been developed by a team of researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder in collaboration with middle school teachers from Denver Public Schools.

Access Link: 
https://www.colorado.edu/program/schoolwide-labs/computational-thinking-classroo...
Author/Presenter: 
SchoolWide Lab Team
Lead Organization(s): 
University of Colorado Boulder
Year: 
2021
Short Description: 

The SchoolWide Lab middle school curriculum units are anchored in phenomena, aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards(NGSS) and purposefully integrate Computational Thinking (CT). To date, four units have been developed by a team of researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder in collaboration with middle school teachers from Denver Public Schools.

Getting Unstuck Scratch Curriculum

Computer Science
Curriculum
Elementary
Middle

Getting Unstuck is a 10-module intermediate Scratch curriculum to help your students develop greater creative and conceptual fluency with code. The curriculum reimagines the classroom as a design studio: a culture of learning in which students explore, create, share, and reflect. Get started with the curriculum by reading the orientation, then explore the modules.

Access Link: 
https://gettingunstuck.gse.harvard.edu/
Author/Presenter: 
The Getting Unstuck Team
Lead Organization(s): 
Harvard University
Year: 
2021
Short Description: 

Getting Unstuck is a 10-module intermediate Scratch curriculum to help your students develop greater creative and conceptual fluency with code. The curriculum reimagines the classroom as a design studio: a culture of learning in which students explore, create, share, and reflect. Get started with the curriculum by reading the orientation, then explore the modules.

Mathematical and Computational Methods for Planning a Sustainable Future (PS-Future)

Computer Science
Mathematics
Science
Curriculum
High

Instructional modules that bring sustainability topics into classrooms in a way that emphasizes the methods and tools of mathematics and computing and illustrates their role in planning for sustainability. Through the modules, students learn foundational and emerging concepts in mathematical and computational sciences set in the context of sustainability issues involving physical, biological, environmental, and social sciences.

Access Link: 
https://www.comap.com/Free/PS-Future/index.html
Author/Presenter: 
The PS-Future Team
Lead Organization(s): 
Rutgers University (RU)
Consortium For Mathematics and Its Applications, Inc. (COMAP)
Hobart and William Smith Colleges (HWS)
Year: 
2018
Short Description: 

Instructional modules that bring sustainability topics into classrooms in a way that emphasizes the methods and tools of mathematics and computing and illustrates their role in planning for sustainability. Through the modules, students learn foundational and emerging concepts in mathematical and computational sciences set in the context of sustainability issues involving physical, biological, environmental, and social sciences. Students develop an increasingly sophisticated understanding of the ways that these disciplines interact through inquiries driven by real problems such as combating invasive species, understanding environmental threats, managing water resources, interpreting weather data, and simply living greener.

Reaching Across the Hallway: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Supporting Computer Science in Rural Schools

Principal Investigator: 
Bryan Wallace

"Reaching Across the Hallway: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Supporting Computer Science in Rural Schools" is in its first project year. Our goal is to design and develop a train-the-trainer professional development model that supports 5th-8th grade teachers in integrating culturally relevant computer science into their rural, social studies classrooms.

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Discipline / Topic: 
Computer Science
Broadening Participation
Curriculum
Professional Development
Target Audience: 
Middle School

Strengthening STEM Teaching in Native American Serving Schools through Long-Term, Culturally Responsive Professional Development

Principal Investigator: 
Angelina Castagno

This is a 4-year, level II Exploratory study within the teaching strand of DRK12. The research explores the functioning and impact of a nationally-developed STEM professional development model within the Navajo Nation. Teacher participants represent the entire K-12 grade range and multiple content areas, and they all participate in an innovative STEM-content, culturally responsive, 8-month professional development fellowship. We explore the extent to which culturally responsive principles are evident in their self-authored curriculum units.

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Discipline / Topic: 
Computer Science
Engineering
Mathematics
Science
Technology
Broadening Participation
Curriculum
Pedagogical Content Knowledge
Professional Development
Target Audience: 
Middle School
High School

Extending and Investigating the Impact of the High School Model-based Educational Resource (Collaborative Research: Passmore and Wilson)

Principal Investigator: 
Cynthia Passmore
Chris Wilson

We are collaborating on a project to examine the efficacy of high school biology instructional materials that support teachers' understanding and practice of model-based reasoning as an approach to support students in developing an integrated, multidimensional understanding of science. This poster summarizes our efforts to develop assessment tasks that measure students' ability to use model-based reasoning to make sense of biological phenomena and describes our use of crowdsourced adults to pilot test the tasks.

Co-PI(s): Molly Stuhlsatz, BSCS Science Learning

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Discipline / Topic: 
Computer Science
Science
Technology
Curriculum
Educational Technology
Professional Development
Target Audience: 
Pre-Kindergarten
Elementary School

Getting Unstuck: Designing and Evaluating Teacher Resources to Support Conceptual and Creative Fluency with Programming

Principal Investigator: 
Karen Brennan

We are studying how an online professional learning experience for K-12 computer science teachers can be adapted for use in the classroom. Our goal is to increase teachers' conceptual and creative fluency with the Scratch programming environment. In collaboration with several teachers, we further refined our online professional learning experience for summer 2020. We have also been collaboratively developing and studying educative curriculum materials that promote both teacher and student learning and development.

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Discipline / Topic: 
Computer Science
Curriculum
Disciplinary Content Knowledge
Professional Development
Target Audience: 
Elementary School

Streams of Data: Nurturing Data Literacy in Young Science Learners (Collaborative Research: Kochevar)

Principal Investigator: 
Edward Robeck
Randy Kochevar

Streams of Data is pursuing early stage research to address: How can the use of professionally collected, scientific data support the development of data literacy skills in elementary students, and what types of scaffolds are necessary to realize this potential? In the first year, baseline research examined the analytical thinking approaches children intuitively use when making meaning from different types of data with minimal scaffolding? We explored commonplace scenarios of data and conventional data representations.

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Discipline / Topic: 
Computer Science
Mathematics
Science
Technology
Curriculum
Professional Development
Target Audience: 
Elementary School

High School Students' Climate Literacy Through Epistemology of Scientific Modeling (Collaborative Research: Chandler and Forbes)

Principal Investigator: 
Cory Forbes

We share the conception, design, and some activities from a curriculum based on the use of a global climate model EzGCM in secondary geoscience classrooms. Implemented through the NSF-funded CLiMES (Climate Literacy through Modeling and Epistemology of Science) project, this curriculum facilitated in-depth understanding of climate literacy concepts through model-based reasoning.

Co-PI(s): Mark Chandler, Columbia University

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Discipline / Topic: 
Computer Science
Science
Technology
Disciplinary Content Knowledge
Educational Technology
Target Audience: 
High School

Developing a Suite of Standards-based Instructionally Supportive Tools for Middle School Computer Science

Principal Investigator: 
Satabdi Basu

The ASSIST project will develop a set of educative resources, assessment tools and teacher professional development activities to support diverse teachers teaching a variety of computer science curricula using different programming languages. Teachers will develop knowledge of CS standards and learn to use formative assessments related to these standards to determine student understanding. Improved CS instruction that is responsive to the needs and challenges of the student population is critical to ensure more equitable participation in CS.

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Discipline / Topic: 
Computer Science
Assessment
Classroom Practice
Disciplinary Content Knowledge
Professional Development
Target Audience: 
Middle School

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