Benefit of Increasing Access to Coding and Computational Thinking
“There’s no question that expanding our K–12 students’ proficiency in STEM is critical to preparing them for careers in fast-growing sectors of our economy. “(Flynn, 2017). Coding is just one part of expanding our student’s proficiency in STEM, but it is an important part. Flynn goes on to say “But based on Jobs for the Future’s 35 years working to increase economic opportunity for lower-income youth and adults, I’d like to highlight three essentials for schools of all backgrounds:
- Incorporate key employability skills into learning, such as communication, critical thinking, problem solving, and teamwork.
- Provide real-world work experience, such as internships and other forms of work-based learning. Students learn countless intellectual, personal, and social skills when on the job with experienced workers.
- Develop youth-friendly career navigation resources. Learning about career options and making smart choices to reach one’s goals can be daunting for most people.” (Flynn, 2017).
The question is, how are we meeting these needs? First, students are learning to code at every level in our district. This gives them experience with computational thinking, even in the elementary. As mentioned above, this helps students develop communication skills, critical thinking, problem solving and teamwork. Second, we live very near a high tech city, and endless career opportunities abound for our students. Learning coding, and our goal of adding engineering and design, prepares students for expanded learning experiences through internships. It also helps prepare them for college and the career of their choice. Third, at the middle school, all 8th grade students take a College and Career Readiness course. This course lets students explore different career paths and resources and gives them guidance on reaching their goals.
Computational thinking is a learning strategy that helps students access, explore and employ the 5C’s of 21st century learning – Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, Cooperation and Critical Thinking (Romero, M., Lepage, A. & Lille, B, 2017). Oftentimes, computational thinking is thought to be relegated to computer science and technology classes, but we believe it would help our community to expand and deliver these strategies across multiple disciplines, age groups, and campuses.
Multiple step problem solving is a critical skill in which many of our students show room for growth. When we look at gaps in our testing, we are consistently struck with the question of why students show gaps in their learning? What are we missing? We believe we are missing an approach that integrates computational thinking, or the ability to work through a problem with patience and resilience. Specifically, students today possess more digital devices than ever before, and regard their digital devices as important and necessary tools for the completion of their educational goals (D. Christopher Brooks, 2016). However, traditional methods of delivering information and conducting teaching are still prevalent in many classrooms despite access of each student to meaningful and diverse technology teaching tools like iPads and Chromebooks, and despite an ever-increasing amount of internet-delivered teaching materials and technology-enhanced teaching methodologies (Meeker, 2019).
Today, students have the world in their pockets, and in front of them on the iPads and Chromebooks issued to them by their school districts. And yet, despite this access, we see no discernible difference in their learning outcomes. We believe that we will only begin to see the increases we seek for our students when we begin to look at technology as a tool, rather than a solution, to these gaps. Expanding access to technology applications in the classrooms as well as technology-delivered methodologies of teaching will increase students’ use of their devices and transition those tools away from use as entertainment to use for education. Instead of asking ourselves if our teaching isn’t working, we keep using strategies that are siloed by discipline and disregard students’ interests and culture, rather than helping students develop strategies that might work across disciplines, use their outside-of-school knowledge as a strength, and begin to show students how learning is inherently interdisciplinary and skills build across and between subjects learned in school (Emdin, 2006).
Computational thinking and the understanding that steps can be made to creatively attempt to solve big, confusing problems with a high degree of success has a double impact; it teaches students strategies of independent thinking and learning while, at the same time, developing confidence in the learner themself. In Elgin ISD we have a small district that is growing each and every day. While our population grows and changes, we will continue to face challenges from all sides, especially with our under-resourced populations including our students who speak two or more languages, and especially, our students who speak one language at school and another at home. In our district we face achievement gaps, and have many students who are English Language Learners. EL students are historically under-represented or even excluded from access to computational-thinking-led courses like computer science, and therefore are also excluded from accessing high-paying computer science jobs, simply because they do not speak, read or write English at the level of some of their peers (Armenti, 2018). A district-wide focus on integrating problem-solving and computational thinking skills will engage all students regardless of their English and/or English literacy levels. Again, computational thinking address these needs by not isolating learning to a language, class, or teacher, but says to a student: look what you can do by puzzling through, by making learning your own and taking ownership of your learning process (Buchem, et al, 2014). In other words, it is a tool to begin establishing equity of access to students who have been left out of the world of access in almost every other way.
We know that the three critical components of engagement in learning are the “three-Rs of Relationships, Rigor and Relevance” (National Research Council, 2004). Parents and students understand that this method of learning is the future of automated careers, expanding access to the internet, increasing accessibility of software for all people regardless of language or ability, and they want to be a part of that change. Families recognize the confidence-building and openness to taking risk that develop as their students play sports, and they understand the motivation that access to programs with similar orientation provide to their children. Parents and students understand the importance of a college education to their future, and recognize a golden opportunity in beginning that journey in high school. In other words, our students and their families are seeing the best in what we can give them in our schools and are asking us in numbers to expand those opportunities.
References
Flynn, M. (2017). Students Need Coding in Schools–And More–To Fill Stem Jobs of Future. Tech & Learning, 38(4), 19. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=125955689
Romero, M., Lepage, A. & Lille, B. Computational thinking development through creative programming in higher education. Int J Educ Technol High Educ 14, 42 (2017) doi:10.1186/s41239-017-0080-z https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-017-0080-z
D. Christopher Brooks. ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2016. Research report. Louisville, CO: ECAR, October 2016
Meeker, M. (2019, June 11). Internet Trends 2019. Retrieved December 1, 2019, from https://www.scribd.com/document/413048704/Internet-Trends-2019#fullscreen&from_embed.
Emdin, Christopher “Teaching and Learning Science in an Urban School: Analogy as a Key to Communal Science Pedagogy.” 2006. PDF File
Armenti, Samantha M., “COMPUTER SCIENCE EDUCATION WITH ENGLISH LEARNERS” (2018). Open Access Master’s Theses. Paper 1280.
Buchem , Ilona, et al. “Learner Control in Personal Learning Environments: A Cross …” THE JOURNAL OF LITERACY AND TECHNOLOGY: AN INTERNATIONAL ONLINE ACADEMIC JOURNAL, The Journal of Literacy & Technology Florida Atlantic University School of Communication and Multimedia Studies , June 2014.
National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. 2004. Engaging Schools: Fostering High School Students’ Motivation to Learn. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/10421.
Sandra Negro 