NSF Awards: 1814007
Public media producers from GBH and researchers from Education Development Center are exploring innovative ways to nurture preschool computational literacy with the project: The Development of Computational Literacy through the Integration of Computational Thinking and Early Language and Literacy Development in Urban Preschools. Through formative research with preschool teachers, children, and experts in the field, we have developed a seven-week preschool program called “The Story Emporium,” consisting of books, hands-on activities, and a storytelling app.
The Story Emporium follows a 5-step model for how computational thinking (or CT for short) can complement and enhance literacy activities. With this 5-Step Model, teachers and children read stories with repetitive, predictable patterns, and then use those patterns to create new stories.
Here’s how it works:
Step 1. Read a Story with a repetitive and predictable pattern.
Step 2. Break Down the Story by identifying smaller elements such as character and action. This supports the CT skill of Decomposition.
Step 3. Find the Story Pattern by noticing how the events repeat in a predictable way. This supports Pattern Recognition.
Step 4. Retell the Story by following the story pattern to list the events of the story in order. This supports Sequencing.
Step 5. Create a New Story by using the story pattern but changing some story elements. Using the pattern gives children step-by-step instructions for creating a story. This supports Algorithmic Thinking.
Noticing how the elements are connected to one another in a way that makes sense supports Understanding Cause and Effect and Logical Reasoning. Changing the story elements to correct a mistake or to modify a story based on preference supports Debugging.
The team is currently conducting a pilot study of the entire 7-week Story Emporium program in preschool classrooms. In this pilot, we are exploring how this model can support children’s development and application of CT skills in early literacy activities with the goal of supporting young children’s computational literacy, moving us closer to STEM for all.
Margo Murphy
Science Instructor
What a great project!!! You clearly explained the early building blocks of computational thinking and making it relevant to the age group. I have many questions but my first one is what are next steps in this skill development? I can see this being a powerful start but needs skill and content progression for the ultimate goal to be met. Are you collaborating with anyone working at early elementary to build on your work?
Michelle Cerrone
Jillian Orr
Executive Producer
Hi Margo!
Thank you so much for your excitement around this work -- we are so passionate as well!
We too see this as a start in an important journey of computational thinking. Our approach begins with supporting the basic skills and using those skills to create computational artifacts. We see this project providing early "pre-coding" experiences that would equip children to engage in other developmentally appropriate coding experiences as they continue to grow. Our colleagues at PBS and public media stations around the country have developed workshops that use ScratchJr for early elementary, and so our work is designed to support children in advancing to this as well! We are eager to continue this work to better build that bridge into early elementary!
Michelle Cerrone
Margo Murphy
Kathy Renfrew
Education SPecialist
I am very excited about this project both as an elementary educator and a grandmother of two preschool boys. I am a failry new learner when it comes to thinking about the inclusion of comptuational thinking into science instruction. I am very curious about the other books you will be using during the seven week pilot. I am also wondering if there is a developmentally appropriate set of learning goals around computational thinking for children of this age. I really want to know more about your vision for how the program supports teachers. What professional support are you providing for the teacher of the young child?
Michelle Cerrone
Borgna Brunner
Editorial Project Director
Thanks for your interest, Kathy. (Must be great having two preschool grandkids to try activities with!) To answer your questions:
Books and Songs Used in The Story Emporium
Age-Appropriate CT Skills
With teachers’ support, preschool children will begin to understand these core CT skills and how they relate to stories/songs:
Supports for Teachers
In addition to the Lesson Plans, The Story Emporium offers teachers a video overview of the program, a five-step model on how the curriculum works, tips on using the app with children, suggestions for fitting these seven weeks into teachers’ existing curricula, a diagram showing how literacy and CT skills dovetail, and teaching strategies for dual-language learners and children with learning and thinking differences.
Michelle Cerrone
Margo Murphy
Kathy Renfrew
Education SPecialist
Thanks so much for your detailed response. I often worry about the support thr preschool teachers and their opportunirty for professional learning as many preschool children live in communities where the daycare staff are the ones working with our youngest leaners. I also wanted to share a new book I just found called "How to Code a Sandcastle."
Michelle Cerrone
Jillian Orr
Executive Producer
Thank you for sharing the book, Kathy!
We have that same concern for early childhood educators. Our hope with this project was that we could leverage what educators are already doing--reading and breaking down stories!--to support early CT skill development. Our amazing early educator partners and fantastic advisors also played a large role in shaping this project so that it would be feasible and embraceable. We're pilot testing now!
Michelle Cerrone
Kathy Renfrew
Education SPecialist
I can’t wait to find out what you find out through the piloting of the program. I have to admit that I am hoping that if students start having these amazing learning experiences as young children, they will be the ones demanding it as they continue through school. I hope they will learn to advocate for themselves.
Latrenda Knighten
Mathematics Content Trainer
Thank you for sharing your project and for your work with preschool students, especially those in urban areas. It was very interesting to read about your work with computational literacy and computational thinking - early language development and literacy is a vital component in the education of young children. I agree that literature, especially engaging books that include patterns is a great tool for engaging students. As part of your pilot, what tools are you using to measure student growth/development in computational literacy and thinking? Beyond the pilot program in preschool classrooms, are there any plans to "follow" and/or monitor student development and growth as they move to a formal elementary setting? I would be interested to find out how this early start with literacy development helps students as they continue to grow and develop.
Thanks again for sharing and for your work with young children.
Michelle Cerrone
Michelle Cerrone
Great question! We are conducting virtual pre- and post- child assessments in order to understand if and how using The Story Emporium activities and digital app support student growth in computational literacy. The assessment consists of two parts:
We don’t yet have plans to follow student development and growth in the longer term, but that could be a valuable direction for this work to take!
Latrenda Knighten
Latrenda Knighten
Mathematics Content Trainer
Thanks so much for your comprehensive response! I love the assessment tool you're using - it seems very in depth. It sounds as if you guys are going to capture some great data. Good luck with your project and thanks so much for your work with young children.
Michelle Cerrone
Michelle Cerrone
Thanks, looking forward to sharing our results!
Margo Murphy
Science Instructor
As a follow-up... what is the plan to offer PD to preschool teachers? There often isn't any time built into their day or schedules to receive PD, although this may be changing as preK gets folded into the public school system. Is it an asynchronous model? Embedded in their working day? How have you been providing PD during your pilot phase? I am interested in knowing your implementation plan.
Michelle Cerrone
Michelle Cerrone
Thanks so much for raising these important points, Margo! Too often we see that technology and media are distributed in classrooms without the professional supports that teachers need in order to successfully integrate resources in developmentally appropriate ways that support learning and are based in research.
Although a robust, formal professional development program was outside the scope of this particular project, we worked closely with teachers and expert advisors during formative phases to better understand teacher familiarity, experience, and comfort with (1) key content areas of CT and narrative development, and (2) the pedagogical approaches to using technology to build on and enhance hands-on learning opportunities. Drawing on what we learned from these early phases, WGBH developed multiple types of teacher supports (e.g., introductory videos, a teacher version of the app). EDC then conducted additional rounds of testing and expert reviews that elicited feedback on the value and usability of these educative components, specifically around how well they prepared and supported teachers in implementing the content.
What we found is that teachers value concise introductory materials that define key aspects of the content and that make explicit how the intervention’s approach and resources support the key content areas. We also found – not surprisingly – that teachers benefit from revisiting explanations of the key content in each lesson plan and also from seeing the rationale for how activities and moments within individual lessons support children in engaging with each content area. As a result, WGBH integrated educative components that do just this into all lesson plans. (Interestingly, the teacher version of the app ended up being less helpful than we had expected—having to switch between a student and teacher versions made for a clunky experience.) As Borgna describes above, the final intervention includes a video overview of the program, a five-step model on how the curriculum works, tips on using the app with children, suggestions for fitting these seven weeks into teachers’ existing curricula, a diagram showing how literacy and CT skills dovetail, and teaching strategies for dual-language learners and children with learning and thinking differences.
Margo Murphy
Sylvia Perez
Your project really resonates with me as our science center (New York Hall of Science) has been coaching schools on how to integrate computational thinking across disciplines in elementary schools. Our approach has been for teachers to reflect on what they are already doing in the classroom and discover ways that they already aligned with CT or with some modifications can align better with CT. I see this approach embedded in your project as preschool teachers do focus heavily on early literacy building skills. I love the idea of using an app, however in NYC, preschool children are only allowed 15 minutes of screen time per day. I was wondering if you encountered similar or other challenges with utilizing the app in the classroom and if so how did you address them?
Michelle Cerrone
Borgna Brunner
Editorial Project Director
Hi Sylvia—
Thanks for your interest in our project. When we began developing it, our advisors recommended that we limit screen use to 15 minutes per day, which we implemented. Most of the Story Emporium activities are off-screen. Whole group activities include read alouds and creating “Big Story Charts” with story cards. Small group activities include having children make "Mini Story Charts” (using paper) as well as having children recreate the story or song using toys and puppets, or by playing a stepping stone game, which serve to engage children in more physical and tactile ways of retelling the story or song. Using the app is seen as one of the culminating activities, one that gives children a new way to practice what they've learned from the charts and the hands-on activities. Preschoolers are likely to have two 15-minute sessions with the app each week—and the app isn’t introduced at all until the second week of the program.
Michelle Cerrone
Quinn Burke
Great project Jillian and team -- so much of storytelling w/ computing has been using stories to make coding more palpable to novices (i.e., "make the medicine" go down). But this reinforces fundamental literacy practices -- good stuff!
Michelle Cerrone
Jillian Orr
Executive Producer
Thanks, Quinn! We are really excited about the potential for this approach to support preschool children with early CT development! There is so much to continue exploring!
Kelly Powers
Hi Jillian & Team Story Emporium,
Are any of these resources available to pilot? I'd love to run of the lesson with teachers that I am currently supporting.
Borgna Brunner
Editorial Project Director
Hi Kelly--
Thanks for your interest in the resources. We're not ready to distribute them right now, but I've got your email and will let you know when they're available.
Kathy Renfrew
Education SPecialist
I would be interested in these lessons as well.I can definitely think of acouple of teachers who might be interested
Borgna Brunner
Editorial Project Director
Hi Kathy-- As I mentioned to Kelly (above), we're not yet ready to distribute the resources, but I will be sure to let you know when they're available.
Zohreh Shaghaghian
Very interesting project! Looking forward to the result of a pilot study investigating students' future success in algorithmic thinking and problem-solving.
Borgna Brunner
Editorial Project Director
Thanks, Zohreh! We look forward to sharing after we've tested.
Sean Justice
Hi team — such an interesting approach, and many threads to follow up with. Echoing Kelly and Kathy above I'd love to look at the WGBH teacher resources. Are they available? The focus of our project is, in fact, to develop a professional learning program for teachers. I totally agree about linking new content in CT with what teachers are already doing, to not put more on their plates, to integrate thinking as wholistic, as a mindset that includes CT, etc, etc. For us as well, connecting to literacy makes so much sense in this regard. I'm wondering however about moving into actual use of computational materials described above, e.g., what is the app mentioned? In our work we're finding preK and K teachers notice deep learning engagements by entangling screen-based and screen-free computational materials such as ScratchJR, various robotic platforms, and traditional materials. Also, teachers notice that young learners express their learning with greater and greater fluency the more they work with multimodal tools, e.g. ScratchJr plus books plus recycled materials, etc. It's fascinating for us to watch this unfold in our partners' classrooms. I'm curious to learn more about what your teacher partners are noticing in their classrooms and how CT might be challenging and changing their teacher identities. Thanks for this work!
Jillian Orr
Borgna Brunner
Editorial Project Director
Thanks for your interesting reflections, Sean! I wanted to respond to your question about how The Story Emporium app works and its relationship to the off-screen activities.
The overall goal of The Story Emporium is for children to learn to break down a repetitive story/song into smaller elements, to recognize that it has a predictable pattern, and to use that pattern to (1) retell the story or to (2) create a new version of the story by replacing some of the story elements in the pattern. For example, in the original Gingerbread Man story, the Gingerbread man encounters a pig and runs away to avoid being eaten. To make a new story, a child may change the story elements so that a chocolate chip cookie (new character) encounters a monster (another new character) and runs away to avoid being eaten.
Once children understand the model, they practice it in small groups through both hands-on and digital activities. Transferring knowledge between the hands-on activities and the app helps promote a deeper understanding of the CT skills.
Borgna Brunner
Editorial Project Director
I should also mention that the app features six different digital stories with different settings, characters, and narrators: two stories are based on the Old MacDonald song (In the City and On the Farm) for Weeks 1 and 2; two are based on the Pete the Cat story (Messy Stepping and Messy Rolling) for Weeks 3 and 4; and two are based on the Gingerbread Man (Runaway Gingerbread and Runaway Treats) for Weeks 5 and 6. In the final week, children have a choice of any of the six stories.
Jillian Orr
Executive Producer
Hi Sean!
Thanks so much for your comment! I wanted to add also that in all of our research around young children's use of technology, it is clear that technology is just a part of the learning. Hands-on materials and different modes of exploring the same content are essential. We have also seen that when hands-on and tech are very closely connected, there is beautiful transference of knowledge across platforms. Sounds like you're seeing the same things! Exciting! We're excited to share our findings after our pilot testing completes this summer! :)
Barbara Hopkins
Thank you! I would also like to learn and see more! Our efforts to bolster elementary science are ongoing. We see video as 24/7 access for Pre-School teachers. Check out our Ultra-Awesome Animals production (also on PBS Learning Media). Our field tests occurred with Head Start, an AfterSchool program, and Grade 1 classrooms.
Borgna Brunner
Editorial Project Director
Hi Barbara-- I just checked out Ultra-Awesome Animals, on both your site and on PBS Learning Media: very exciting work! We'll let you know when we have more to share about The Story Emporium.