Investigating Early Elementary Students' Computational Thinking Development in Integrated Mathematics-Coding Instruction

Despite growing interest in supporting the integration of computational thinking (CT) in elementary education, there is not an agreed-upon definition of CT that is developmentally appropriate for early childhood, nor is there a clear understanding of how young children’s CT develops and which kinds of instructional approaches and practices truly support the development of CT. Children’s ideas and interpretations of situations are uniquely different from those of adults; therefore, models of early childhood CT should reflect the developmental understanding of their CT. Further, schools often lack the instructional time and resources to teach CT as a separate subject, so CT is often integrated with other disciplines such as mathematics. Early elementary educators need feasible research-based, developmentally appropriate CT curricula. This project will contribute to this critical STEM educational need by working with a design team of 5 elementary teachers to develop a research-based integrated mathematics and CT curriculum. The project will directly impact over 300 first- and second-grade students and 9 teachers from Title I schools in a rural setting with an aim to broaden participation by designing tasks for full participation of underrepresented populations in STEM, specifically girls and multilingual learners.

Using a design-based research methodology, a systematic study of children’s developing CT and mathematics knowledge in classroom contexts will be conducted through iterative cycles of curriculum design, enactment, and analysis using the lens of hierarchic interactionalism. Data collection will include video recordings of students’ activity in tasks with coding tools, design memos, interviews, and pre-post assessments of CT, mathematics knowledge, and spatial ability. Qualitative data will be analyzed using retrospective and interaction analysis. Multiple regression analysis of assessment data will be used to explore the relationship between CT, mathematics knowledge, and spatial ability. The research will advance the field by investigating the progressions of CT learning in early elementary grades and will empirically develop, test, and refine these progressions along with the mathematics-integrated CT curricular tasks and assessments. This research will provide early elementary educators and curriculum designers with a framework for understanding children’s development of CT and will inform future CT instruction efforts for standards, curricula, teaching practices, and assessment. This project will also provide valuable information about how to integrate CT into early mathematics education in feasible and accessible ways for classrooms. The key outcomes of the project will be a CT learning trajectory (LT) for grades 1-2 that includes: (1) a cognitive model of CT, (2) an integrated mathematics-coding curriculum aligned with the developmental learning progression of the CT LT, and (3) formative assessments integral to the instructional tasks that provide feedback to teachers on student learning.