In preparing the PD we used the spiral curriculum to show how we would integrate science, CT, and culturally responsive teaching throughout each day. We used Clarke & Hollingsworth’s (2002) model for professional growth to show how teachers can move from reflection to enactment through the PD experience. Teachers will develop lessons during the PD while receiving support from the research team and will then deliver those lessons while we observe during the fall. The research team will then collect data based on classroom enactment of those innovative practices.

Thank you for your comment! Our framework represents how we are being mindful of the ways that we are introducing science, computational thinking, and cultural responsiveness together in elementary instruction. We are using our framework to develop guided and open-ended activities for teachers to navigate what culturally responsive CT-integrated learning may look like in their own classrooms and contexts. For example, we plan to introduce vignettes as examples of the integration of all three concepts together and give teachers spaces to reflect on what qualities they share with the teachers in the vignettes, to suggest ways they would improve the lessons in the vignettes based on their own prior knowledge of culturally responsive practices and CT instructions in science, and to identify areas of personal growth in their teaching that they may not have realized until reading the vignettes. A key part of our framework is to recognize that teachers are entering the PD with diverse understandings of science education, computational thinking, and culturally responsive teaching. The vignette activity, along with intentional self-reflection activities, provide teachers the opportunity to determine their starting places in the framework and to identify productive paths to move forward to develop effective, meaningful, and inclusive elementary CT-infused science lessons.

Hi Kathy, thank you for your comment!  Elementary science lessons that include computational thinking are available via the websites of Digital Promise and the NSTA  (for example, I was just reviewing this lesson available from NSTA: https://www.nsta.org/lesson-plan/why-my-shadow-always-changing), but I hope that you will also follow our ACT webpage at https://sites.google.com/umd.edu/accessible-ct, where we will continue to add additional resources as our project unfolds.

Whether evaluating an existing lesson plan or creating a new lesson plan that includes a culturally responsive approach, our team has relied upon the Eight Competencies for Culturally Responsive Teaching (Muñiz, 2020), which remind us, among other things, to reflect on whether lessons incorporate students’ background knowledge, empower them to solve problems in their own lives and communities, and are scaffolded to support the achievement of all students.  

While we hope that our work will draw new focus upon the value and utility of science instruction in the elementary grades, we have not yet discussed how to best leverage this interest - but we would love to hear your ideas about this!

Currently time for science is at a premium where it exists at all. As I think about the components of your program and its well thought out program and its connections to culturally responsive teaching I think there is leverage possibilities especially when we begin to consider equity and access.

On another note I am wondering what question you all have that is still lingering unanswered or a question you had hoped to answer in your work but that got put on the back burner for whatever reason. Are there anyof those type of questiions floating around in your thoughts?

HI, Kathy! Thanks for giving us space to think about this. As our project is still in its first year, we are still in the idealistic phase of thinking we can do all that we want to and answer all of our questions. Ask us again next year! ;-)

Hi Daniel thank you for your comment and interest in our project. And yes there are ways to stay updated about the project's next steps by visiting our website: https://sites.google.com/umd.edu/accessible-ct

We will update our website as the project continues to unfold!

Hi Daniel,

Thank you for your interest in the process for developing our model. The collaborative process we used to develop our model is the topic of a poster that will be shared at RESPECT 2022. Our team focused on designing a model that best reflects our shared understanding of CRT, CT, and science teaching and the key elements of their intersection. During the initial phase (exploration) of our modified e-Delphi approach, each researcher first created a model that reflected their individual conceptualization of CT-infused science and Culturally Responsive Teaching. The result of this exploration phase was a set of 12 unique models that varied in terms of granularity and in the ways the relationships were conceptualized, displayed and formatted. The team facilitator  then organized the 12 individual models into three groups containing four contrasting, individual models to elicit discussion. Based on the divergent characteristics seen in the initial set of 12 models, we ended up with a set of three abstracted, curriculum integration models. We discussed the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of each model and considered their respective implications for teacher professional development and classroom instruction and decided on our final consensus-model.

Thank you for commenting on our video, Latrenda.  During the academic year, we will form a hybrid support community, where participating teachers from different sites can attend “office hours” held by members of our team.  During this time, teachers can collaborate, ask questions, receive feedback, or just check-in.  Team members will also be visiting the classrooms of participating teachers to observe science lessons that incorporate computational thinking and culturally responsive teaching practices, and supporting the enactment of those lessons through pre- and post-observation meetings.  But, this element of our work is still under design, so if you have suggestions, we’d love to hear them!

Hi Emily,

Thank you for your questions! We are asking teachers to bring to the summer workshop a science lesson they have taught during the school year. During the first summer workshop we will emphasize how to integrate CT into their science lessons and how to teach these lessons through culturally responsive teaching, focusing on building teacher self-efficacy for CT and culturally responsive teaching. The summer workshops, during year one and two, will concentrate learning on teachers’ own classrooms, and co-designing lessons with the research team to develop communities of practice to create the support foundation for the academic year. As we co-develop lesson plans for use in the academic year that integrate CT and CRT into science the research team will then observe the lesson during the academic year. Next, we will ask teachers to reflect upon the CT/culturally responsive teaching-infused lessons and join a hybrid CT/culturally responsive teaching learning community. All teachers will be collaboratively taught onsite and remotely by the full research team.

Hi Jennifer, thank you for your comment!  We will begin implementing this summer, and plan to support our teachers throughout the school year through the creation of a hybrid support community, where our team members will hold office hours to provide feedback and collaborate with participating teachers across our sites.  We will also be conducting classroom observations during our teacher’s CT and culturally responsive teaching-infused science lessons, and further supporting their enactment of those lessons through pre- and post-observation meetings. Since we haven’t yet implemented, we’d love to stay in touch and benefit from your experience with any advice you have to offer - you can contact us at djk@umd.edu and follow our project at https://sites.google.com/umd.edu/accessible-ct