Creative Computing Challenge: A Teacher Professional Development to Enhance Non-Computing Career and Technical Education Curriculum with Engaging Computational Practices for All Students (Poster Abstract)

The Creative Computing Challenge (CCC) project (2014-2018) is funded by the National Science Foundation and is designed to broaden participation in computing by providing professional development (PD) for high school teachers at Career & Technical Education (CTE) programs throughout the state of New Hampshire. Teachers receive a stipend and tablets for their classrooms; they attend several in-person PD sessions through the year, where master teachers and PD facilitators introduce modeling of inquiry and equity-based practices, as well as teach the App Inventor tool and how to inculcate computational thinking in students. Project evaluation has included teacher interviews, classroom and PD observations, as well as student and teacher surveys. External evaluation of this project has been an integral part of the project from the beginning and, along with the project team’s observations and input, has significantly reshaped the project activities. It became clear after the first year that a central challenge of this project would be working with a mix of teachers across multiple domains -- from teachers who had little experience even using computers to teachers who had computer science degrees; from teachers who came to teaching from professional backgrounds to those who had education degrees; and from beginning teachers to those who had been teaching the same courses for twenty years. Through evaluation data and really listening to teacher feedback, we not only tailored the PD content and structure, but also refined the data collection instruments and evaluation design to bridge the gap between different teacher experiences and levels of preparation. As a result, we have been able to bring computing into non-technical content areas such as Hospitality and nonprogramming classes such as Photography, as well as support computing educations in New Hampshire CTE programs. In Year 4, we now better understand the range of benefits and challenges involved in working with CTE programs and inserting CCC-inspired curricular modules in non-computing courses

Summer learning experience for girls in grades 7–9 boosts confidence and interest in computing careers

Academic exposure to computer science, encouragement to study computer science, and connecting personal interests to computing areas influence women to pursue degrees in computer science. Guided by these recommendations, we designed and offered a summer learning experience for girls in grades 7--9 in summer 2016. The goal of the program was to improve girls\u27 perceptions of learning computer science through academic exposure in the informal setting of a girls-only summer camp. In this paper we present a study of the girls\u27 perceptions of CS learning. Four constructs were used to develop pre- and post-survey items: computing confidence, intent to persist, social supports, and computing outcomes expectations. The camp appeared to have positively influenced the girls on two of the four constructs, by improving computing confidence and positive perceptions of computing careers

Changing Perceptions of Who Can Code: A Professional Development Program for Career and Technical Education Teachers

This paper reports the results of evaluating a broadening participation in computing initiative aimed at Career and Technical Education (CTE) secondary teachers and students. The five-year project provided professional development (PD) for CTE teachers across the state of XX , many of whom were not computer science or engineering teachers, and in fact, were in fields such as hospitality and photography. The PD introduced both computational thinking and programming basics through project-based learning and the use of App Inventor visual programming platform. PD activities stressed teaching practices that engage and challenge students, in particular girls, underrepresented minorities in urban areas, and students in underserved rural regions in the State. The PD also focused on pedagogies that value the importance of broadening participation in computing. Data collection of the PD evaluation study included student pre-post surveys, classroom and PD observations, pre-post teacher interviews, and follow-up-post teacher interviews. While there were modest gains in student confidence in computing, with girls in one cohort increasing confidence significantly more than boys, the greatest achievements of the project lay in the impact on teachers. The teachers learned new computing skills, gained confidence in computing, learned new pedagogical practices that they implemented in the classroom, and most continue to integrate project-based app development in their courses. Significantly, two teachers shifted their careers to focus on equity issues in computing and increasing participation of girls and other underrepresented groups in K-12 education. Lessons learned by the project team include using formative data to improve PD development, creating relationships and building trust with CTE program directors, and being responsive to teacher needs. The teacher interview data suggest that influencing a few individuals greatly can have a larger ripple effect. The data also suggest that including non-computing teachers in computing education PD can change hearts and minds about who can learn, teach, and code

Creative computing challenge: teacher professional learning to enhance non-computing career and technical education curricula with engaging computational practices for all students

The Creative Computing Challenge (CCC) project (2014-2018) is funded by the National Science Foundation and is designed to broaden participation in computing by providing professional development (PD) for high school teachers at Career & Technical Education (CTE) programs throughout the state of New Hampshire. Teachers receive a stipend and tablets for their classrooms; they attend several in-person PD sessions through the year, where master teachers and PD facilitators introduce modeling of inquiry and equity-based practices, as well as teach the App Inventor tool and how to inculcate computational thinking in students. Project evaluation has included teacher interviews, classroom and PD observations, as well as student and teacher surveys. External evaluation of this project has been an integral part of the project from the beginning and, along with the project team’s observations and input, has significantly reshaped the project activities. It became clear after the first year that a central challenge of this project would be working with a mix of teachers across multiple domains – from teachers who had little experience even using computers to teachers who had computer science degrees; from teachers who came to teaching from professional backgrounds to those who had education degrees; and from beginning teachers to those who had been teaching the same courses for twenty years. Through evaluation data and really listening to teacher feedback, we not only tailored the PD content and structure, but also refined the data collection instruments and evaluation design to bridge the gap between different teacher experiences and levels of preparation. As a result, we have been able to bring computing into non-technical content areas such as Hospitality and non-programming classes such as Photography, as well as support computing educations in New Hampshire CTE programs. In Year 4, we now better understand the range of benefits and challenges involved in working with CTE programs and inserting CCC-inspired curricular modules in non-computing courses