NSF Awards: 2031424
Elementary Science + CS with Project-Based Learning, Universal Design for Learning, and Culturally Responsive Pedagogy
Time4CSforAll is a research-practice partnership between Broward County Public Schools, the University of Florida and the University of Chicago. This is a close collaboration to help us solve a challenging problem:
How can elementary students participate in Computer Science education that is integrated into their science curriculum in a manner that makes learning powerful and engaging?
After our Spring 2022 pilot, we will do a field test with a quasi-experimental design in Fall 2022, then revise the module and share our research findings in 2023.
Please visit our project website for more about our team and our work.
TimeForCS.org
Carla Strickland
Digital Development Manager
Welcome and thank you for checking out our project video!
This Time4CSforAll work has been an exciting challenge so far. We are looking forward to using this space to interact with this great community of researchers, educators, and supporters. So please feel free to post your questions or comments below.
Lisa Milenkovic
Razon Patatosalud
This looks like a fantastic project. Kudos and you get my vote for public choice!
Carla Strickland
Maya Israel
Jeanne Century
Director of Outlier Research & Evaluation and Research Associate Professor
Thank you so much for your encouragement; we are very excited about this work!
Myriam Steinback
Consultant
Congratulations on the pilot of your project - it's no doubt been a learning experience! Seeing how elementary students participate in your program integrated into their science curriculum will be interesting. Your goals of including both cultural responsive pedagogy and universal design for learning will undoubtedly contribute to equity in the classroom.
I'm curious to learn more about the topics that were 'best for particular populations'. Also, what do you plan for professional learning materials?
Maya Israel
Associate professor
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.
Myriam Steinback
Carla Strickland
Carla Strickland
Digital Development Manager
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!
Myriam Steinback
Jeanne Century
Director of Outlier Research & Evaluation and Research Associate Professor
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.
Carla Strickland
David Kung
Director of Policy
I love how so many different voices were highlighted in this video!
This feels to me like the many layers (PBL + CRP + UDL) might be a little overwhelming for teachers. How did the teachers in your pilot react to the different ideas you were trying to bring in? Were all the parts new to them, or had they already done some work in this direction (maybe on one or two of the parts)?
Maya Israel
Associate professor
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.
Noelani Ogasawara Morris
Demonstration Teacher
I also appreciate the value in engaging in Project Based Learning where it sounds like a social justice lens of creating Culturally Relevant instruction for the students. I'm wondering if students are given choice in the way that they would like to present their understanding of the curriculum? Is the use of coding at the center of the project they are developing as their presentation of their understanding or are they invited to use other forms of technology or avenues of presentation?
Carla Strickland
Digital Development Manager
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.
Noelani Ogasawara Morris
Maya Israel
Associate professor
Thank you so much for this question. We have attempted to offer opportunities for choice in this module. Not only in picking different types of invasive species, but also in how students design their computational artifacts. We believe that part of making instruction personally relevant is to build choice into instruction.
Noelani Ogasawara Morris
Noelani Ogasawara Morris
Demonstration Teacher
That's great! I can imagine that with student choice as an option, coding is probably still the most popular as I know how much fun it is for the students! Thank you for sharing your project with us and I look forward to hearing more about it as it continues to grow and expand.
Carla Strickland
Maya Israel