Abstract:

There is a global recognition that all students should have ongoing access to computer science (CS) and computational thinking (CT) throughout their learning and be provided with repeated opportunities to apply CS/CT across multiple subject areas and grade levels. This global recognition includes the belief that students need not only access to digital devices, but also be provided with opportunities to engage in activities that require the reasoning and problem-solving skills needed to use computer programs for more creative or critical thinking purposes that are foundational to CT, such as self-expression, analysis, and solving problems. Despite the recognized importance of CS/CT education across all fields and occupations, access to CS education is often unequally distributed by race, gender, socioeconomic background, multilingual language status, and disability status. We argue that to successfully reach all students, CT must be integrated into core subjects on a schoolwide basis. Doing so increases access, reduces disparities in participation caused by students opting in or out, and helps to combat stereotypes about who does CS. Implementing throughout a school also avoids the common problem of initiatives fading out as individual teachers change grade levels, subject areas, or schools. Achieving schoolwide CT integration, however, requires a coordinated effort by educators and school leaders. While it is recognized that CS/CT education should be a fundamental part of every student's academic experience, educators, school districts, and state leaders often are not provided with clear guidance as to how to make this systemic change.

To address this need, researchers developed the CT Integration Framework (The Framework), which is a self-assessment and planning tool for educators that serves three essential goals:
1. to identify and describe core elements that will affect CT integration across school curricula;
2. to help determine a school’s readiness, diagnosing strengths and challenges to integrate CT across multiple grades and subjects; and
3. to set goals for CT integration and determine indicators of progress toward those goals.

This paper will describe the results of two successive mixed-methods research studies that field-tested The Framework and self-assessment tool, documenting the pathways towards schoolwide CT integration and professional development experiences of eight elementary schools located in both rural and urban school districts in four states in the United States of America. This paper will reflect on the studies’ findings as to how The Framework proved to be a useful tool for the researchers and practitioners who participated in the projects. It helped researchers to understand the different elements each school prioritized as their initial areas of focus, and how each school expanded their efforts over time. When triangulated with additional survey and interview data, the information collected by using the Framework provided the project team with a structure for learning about the approaches each school took and understanding the similarities and differences that emerged among the schools in their approaches toward schoolwide CT integration. The Framework also proved to be very useful in guiding schools’ implementation efforts, as it helped school leaders clearly define the vision for schoolwide CT integration and identify and prioritize goals to ensure progress toward the school's vision for CT integration.

Keywords:

Computational thinking, education, professional development, equality in education.