This presentation will focus on the preliminary findings of a 3-year STEM+Computing Partnerships Design and Development project. This project, titled Collective Argumentation Learning and Coding (CALC), is designed to use the principles of collective argumentation to teach coding through appropriate reasoning. Currently, standards emphasize the teaching and learning of argumentation as important parts of mathematics and science instruction. Therefore, our research team believes that collective argumentation, (i.e., teachers and students working together to establish a claim with appropriate reasoning) will allow coding to be a key element in the teaching of both mathematics and science; as such, coding will not be taught as an add-on activity. Teaching coding in this way has several benefits. First, creating and critiquing arguments to code promotes a more structured approach to coding rather than the trial-and-error approach commonly used by novice programmers. Second, it allows teachers to use methods that are already in use in mathematics and science instruction to teach coding, thus increasing the probability that it will be taught in conjunction with mathematics and science as regular parts of classroom instruction rather than relegated to an after-school or enrichment activity for only some students. Third, it has the potential to increase administrative support for coding as it is integrated with mathematics and science, subjects already recognized as important for student success as evidenced by state testing requirements.
This poster presentation will discuss findings from the first year of the CALC project. These finding will focus on our research questions
1. How does the CALC approach build elementary school teachers’ (grades 3-5) content knowledge of coding?
2. How do elementary school teachers use the CALC approach to support their students’ learning of coding, mathematics, and science content and practices?
3. What are elementary teachers’ beliefs about using collective argumentation in teaching coding, mathematics, and science?
4. What approaches to coding (e.g. trial & error, structured) do students use after CALC enactment?
Dr. Foutz is a Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor of Engineering at the University of Georgia. He was the inaugural director of the First-Year Odyssey program, classes designed to introduce freshmen to the academic life of the University. Dr. Foutz has received federal funding to integrate humanities and social science topics into his course materials. For over 28 years, he has taught fundamental engineering courses as well as advanced design courses.
Roger B. Hill is a professor in the College of Education at the University of Georgia in the USA, and his research agenda focuses on affective characteristics necessary for success in current and future occupations, and on elementary STEM education. He has integrated his research with instructional responsibilities related to engineering and technology education and computer information systems, frequently working with current and future early childhood education teachers.
Dr. Barbara A. Crawford is recently retired as full professor of the University of Georgia, currently working as adjunct professor of science education on NSF funded projects. She is Past President of NARST: A worldwide organization for improving science teaching and learning through research. Dr. Crawford is an Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Her area of research centers on inquiry-based learning and teaching science, teachers' knowledge of argumentation and modeling, and teaching children logic and critical thinking. She examines viable ways to support prospective and practicing teachers’ in developing robust knowledge of scientific inquiry and beliefs that teaching about scientific inquiry is important. The context for professional development is situating teachers in authentic settings.
Dr. Thompson is a Professor and school chair for ECAM School of Engineering at the University of Georgia. Dr. Thompson has taught fundamental engineering courses as well as advanced courses in civil engineering for over 38 years. Dr. Thompson has also been involved with projects introducing engineering into K-12 education for over 15 years.
ChanMin Kim, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Education (Learning, Design, and Technology and Educational Psychology) at Penn State University. Dr. Kim studies methods to help early childhood and elementary teachers learn to integrate robotics and computer science into classrooms. Her current work includes research on methods to help preservice, early childhood education teachers learn to use block-based programming within culturally responsive teaching using robots.
A former middle school science teacher and high school computer science teacher (both in the 80s!), David's primary focus for the past 29 years had been the education of middle school science teachers, especially in regard to the teaching of biological evolution, historical geology, and Big Bang cosmology.
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