Technology

Early Childhood Teachers’ Use of Asset-based Computational Thinking Pedagogy: Centering Students’ Expertise and Life Experiences

Computational thinking (CT) is central to computer science, yet there is a gap in the literature on how CT emerges and develops in early childhood especially for children from historically marginalized communities. Yet, lack of access to computational materials and effective instruction can create inequities that have lasting effects on young children (Chaudry, et al., 2017). To alleviate the pervasiveness of such inequities and remedy the “pedagogical dominance of Whiteness” (Baines et al., 2018, p.

Author/Presenter

Lori Czop Assaf

Sean Justice

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2024
Short Description

Computational thinking (CT) is central to computer science, yet there is a gap in the literature on how CT emerges and develops in early childhood especially for children from historically marginalized communities. Understanding how teachers provide asset-based, culturally responsive opportunities for CT in early childhood classrooms remains largely unknown. The purpose of this paper is to share a subset of findings from a qualitative, ethnographic study that explored the ways in which early childhood teachers (ECT) learned and implemented CT using asset-based pedagogies.

Asset-based Computational Thinking in Early Childhood Classrooms: Centering Students’ Expertise in a Community of Learners

Computational thinking (CT) is central to computer science, yet there is a gap in the literature on the best ways to implement CT in early childhood classrooms. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how early childhood teachers enacted asset-based pedagogies while implementing CT in their classrooms. We followed a group of 28 early childhood educators who began with a summer institute and then participated in multiple professional learning activities over one year.

Author/Presenter

Lori Czop Assaf

Sean Justice

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2024
Short Description

Computational thinking CT is central to computer science, yet there is a gap in the literature on the best ways to implement CT in early childhood classrooms. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how early childhood teachers enacted asset-based pedagogies while implementing CT in their classrooms.

Expressive STEM Storymaking: Art, Literacy, and Creative Computing

This chapter features intersections of art, literacy, and creative computing. As a component of STEAM, creative computing augments story creation, or storymaking (Buganza et al., 2023; Compton & Thompson, 2018), prompting learners to explore expressive meaning making as collective interactions with texts. To signify a way of teaching that supports such learning activities, we propose expressive STEM as a design principle, illustrated here with examples from an elementary school and a preservice art education program in Texas, USA.

Author/Presenter

Sean Justice

Lori Czop Assaf

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2025
Short Description

This chapter features intersections of art, literacy, and creative computing. As a component of STEAM, creative computing augments story creation, or storymaking (Buganza et al., 2023; Compton & Thompson, 2018), prompting learners to explore expressive meaning making as collective interactions with texts. To signify a way of teaching that supports such learning activities, we propose expressive STEM as a design principle, illustrated here with examples from an elementary school and a preservice art education program in Texas, USA.

Unveiling Scoring Processes: Dissecting the Differences Between LLMs and Human Graders in Automatic Scoring

Large language models (LLMs) have demonstrated strong potential in performing automatic scoring for constructed response assessments. While constructed responses graded by humans are usually based on given grading rubrics, the methods by which LLMs assign scores remain largely unclear. It is also uncertain how closely AI’s scoring process mirrors that of humans or if it adheres to the same grading criteria. To address this gap, this paper uncovers the grading rubrics that LLMs used to score students’ written responses to science tasks and their alignment with human scores.

Author/Presenter

Xuansheng Wu

Padmaja Pravin Saraf

Gyeonggeon Lee

Ehsan Latif

Ninghao Liu

Xiaoming Zhai

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2025
Short Description

Large language models (LLMs) have demonstrated strong potential in performing automatic scoring for constructed response assessments. While constructed responses graded by humans are usually based on given grading rubrics, the methods by which LLMs assign scores remain largely unclear. It is also uncertain how closely AI’s scoring process mirrors that of humans or if it adheres to the same grading criteria. To address this gap, this paper uncovers the grading rubrics that LLMs used to score students’ written responses to science tasks and their alignment with human scores. We also examine whether enhancing the alignments can improve scoring accuracy.

Unveiling Scoring Processes: Dissecting the Differences Between LLMs and Human Graders in Automatic Scoring

Large language models (LLMs) have demonstrated strong potential in performing automatic scoring for constructed response assessments. While constructed responses graded by humans are usually based on given grading rubrics, the methods by which LLMs assign scores remain largely unclear. It is also uncertain how closely AI’s scoring process mirrors that of humans or if it adheres to the same grading criteria. To address this gap, this paper uncovers the grading rubrics that LLMs used to score students’ written responses to science tasks and their alignment with human scores.

Author/Presenter

Xuansheng Wu

Padmaja Pravin Saraf

Gyeonggeon Lee

Ehsan Latif

Ninghao Liu

Xiaoming Zhai

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2025
Short Description

Large language models (LLMs) have demonstrated strong potential in performing automatic scoring for constructed response assessments. While constructed responses graded by humans are usually based on given grading rubrics, the methods by which LLMs assign scores remain largely unclear. It is also uncertain how closely AI’s scoring process mirrors that of humans or if it adheres to the same grading criteria. To address this gap, this paper uncovers the grading rubrics that LLMs used to score students’ written responses to science tasks and their alignment with human scores. We also examine whether enhancing the alignments can improve scoring accuracy.

Artificial Intelligence in Science Education Research: Current States and Challenges

The recent surge of artificial intelligence (AI) in science education has heightened interest among the NARST community—a curiosity about how technology can transform education that has lasted for decades. Founded in 1928, NARST is an international organization of thousands of members focused on improving science education through research. This growing interest is evidenced by the launch of the Research in Artificial Intelligence-Involved Science Education (RAISE) Research Interest Group in 2022 and the increasing number of AI-related studies presented at NARST conferences.

Author/Presenter

Gyeonggeon Lee

Minji Yun

Xiaoming Zhai

Kent Crippen 

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2025
Short Description

The recent surge of artificial intelligence (AI) in science education has heightened interest among the NARST community—a curiosity about how technology can transform education that has lasted for decades. This growing interest is evidenced by the launch of the Research in Artificial Intelligence-Involved Science Education (RAISE) Research Interest Group in 2022 and the increasing number of AI-related studies presented at NARST conferences. Despite the growth, limited studies have shed light on how the community members integrate AI into science education and the challenges. We systematically reviewed 36 AI-related papers presented at the 2024 NARST conference to address this gap.

CAREER: A Transformative Approach for Teaching and Learning Geometry by Representing and Interacting with Three-Dimensional Figures

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This project explores how virtual and augmented reality can create new opportunities for representing and interacting with geometric concepts. The poster will report on our efforts to work with secondary mathematics teachers to design immersive virtual environments and test them with students in public high schools in the north east.

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Fostering Computational Thinking Through Neural Engineering Activities in High School Biology Classes

Principal Investigator:

In this project, we developed and implemented a ninth/10th grade neural engineering unit—an emerging field that integrates neuroscience, engineering design, and programming—to explore how computational thinking (CT) and engineering can be incorporated into a core biology high school course. We are examining the changes in students’ CT, engineering design processes, and attitudes towards STEM throughout their participation. We are also exploring what supports biology teachers need to effectively foster CT and engineering.

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Empowering Educators to Create Customized, Culturally Responsive Instructional Materials from Scratch Encore Harmonized with the Interest of Students (Collaborative Research)

Principal Investigator:

This project builds on a successful introductory computer science curriculum, called Scratch Encore, to explore ways to support teachers in bringing together—or harmonizing—existing Scratch Encore instructional materials with themes that reflect the interests, cultures, and experiences of their students, schools, and communities. In designing these harmonized lessons, teachers create customized activities that resonate with their students while retaining the structure and content of the original Scratch Encore lesson.

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