NSF Awards: 1640041
As part of an NSF STEM +C grant, we modified the curriculum for our preservice elementary and middle school science and math teachers to include (a) a new course, Computer Science for All and (b) computational thinking modules incorporated into four existing courses. The new computer science course is designed to provide a foundation in computational thinking and coding skills and can be taken early on in their coursework. Students in the course are introduced to computational thinking concepts, such as algorithmic thinking, as well as coding through platforms such as Scratch and robotics. The skills they learn in this course align with newly created computational thinking modules which are included in four courses for educators. Students from the Departments of Computer Science, Physics, Biology, Mathematics, and Education worked together with faculty from those departments to create computational thinking modules. In Geometry Concepts for Educators students use Scratch to create a geometric representation of art that is culturally relevant to them. In Physics Concepts for Educators students use VPython to learn about vectors, which they apply to a map of their own neighborhoods. In Biology Concepts for Educators students model an epidemic outbreak to predict the spread of disease using NetLogo. In Science Methods students build and program an earthquake simulator using Lego Mindstorm EV3 robots. They will be able to use the computational thinking and coding skills they acquire in these courses in their future careers as educators.
Rachel Adler
Assistant Professor
Thank you for watching our video! As part of an NSF STEM+C grant, we modified our curriculum for future STEM elementary and middle school teachers to include computational thinking and coding. We would love to hear your thoughts and are happy to answer any questions and provide more details on our project.
Daniel Capps
Associate Professor
I enjoyed watching the video. I was wondering what are some of the things you are measuring about preservice teacher learning?
Rachel Adler
Assistant Professor
We are measuring their computational thinking growth by examining key computational thinking concepts such as decomposition, algorithmic thinking, and generalization both when grading their assignments and their perception of their computational thinking growth through surveys.
Molly Stuhlsatz
Debra Bernstein
Thanks for sharing your video, it's great to learn about this project. We've sometimes found, working with inservice teachers, that robotics and coding makes people nervous (especially if they've never done it before), and the idea of possibly being less comfortable with a technology than their students is off-putting for some teachers. Has this been an issue with your preservice teachers?
Rachel Adler
Assistant Professor
Yes, we have felt that it would be easier for their future students too! One thing we did is that in addition to updating existing courses to include computational thinking and coding, we created an entire 15-week introductory computer science course so that pre-service teachers can have more time to really get used to programming with robotics and Scratch.
Molly Stuhlsatz
Research Scientist
This is an interesting project and I really enjoyed your video. I’m interested in the barriers (practical or otherwise) that teachers encounter when implementing the modules in classrooms. Have the preservice teachers had a chance to take platforms/modules into the classroom (perhaps in student teaching) to try them out with students?
Rachel Adler
Assistant Professor
Most of our preservice teachers have not done student teaching yet as they are just starting out in the program. Our hope is that they will use these modules!
Molly Stuhlsatz
Research Scientist
Great! It will be fascinating to hear about their experience in the classroom as your project moves forward.
Laura Bofferding
I was also interested in issues related to those Molly brought up. Do you have the preservice teachers reflect on their experiences learning the tools and do you discuss methods for using these tools with students? Either way, do you have any insights on what might good to focus on in a companion methods course?
Rachel Adler
Assistant Professor
We have had focus group interviews to gather data on the pre-service teachers' experiences. Our focus group data showed that pre-service teachers in our new Computer Science for All course (introductory Computer Science course for educators) had the most confidence in their abilities to learn and teach with computing. We have created this new computer science course and also modified our biology for educators, geometry for educators, physics for educators and science methods course to all include computational thinking.
Courtney Arthur
Senior Curriculum and Instruction Designer
Thank you for sharing your work! What a great program. I, myself, was part of a similar teacher program and it was wonderful. I was curious about your recruitment strategies for the pre-service teachers. Were they part of a program previously in a STEM career?
Rachel Adler
Assistant Professor
Which teacher program were you part of? Our education program (MSTQE), for pre-service STEM K-8 teachers, is actually a bridge program with Chicago Community Colleges. The community college students and our students from Northeastern Illinois University all take classes together at Northeastern. This makes it very easy for the community college students to continue on to Northeastern after. The students in the MSTQE program do not necessarily have a CS background (most do not) so what we are doing is really new to them but they are enjoying it and it will be great when they can take what they are learning to their future classrooms.
Cristián Rizzi
Hi! I couldn't find the link to the project's website. Would you mind sharing it? Thanks!!
Rachel Adler
Assistant Professor
We are developing our website to publish our curriculum/lesson plans this summer. By the end of July/early August we should have it completed.
Irina Lyublinskaya
Hello, do you offer these courses for elementary and middle school pre-service teachers together or are these separate for different grade levels? Are these students preparing for the same or different teaching licences? Thank you!
Brittany Pines
Project Director
The courses that are part of the MSTQE program are math and science content (i.e. Geometry, Statistics, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Algebra, etc) and are for students who want to teach math/science in grades 1-8 however the main focus is on middle level. Once the students begin taking their professional courses through the college of education, they take specific methods courses that focus on either elementary or middle level teaching or students may choose to take both so that they are able to teach all grades, 1-8. In the past few years, Illinois has changed the licensure structure from an Elementary license grades K-9 (and then you needed a middle level endorsement for grades 6-9) to Elementary 1-6 and Middle 5-8. Students have the opportunity once they start with the college of education to go 1) Elementary; 2) Elementary and add on middle level or; 3) Middle level.
Perla Myers
Thank you very much for sharing! Your project looks wonderful! Have you had community engagement experiences for the pre-service teachers so they have a chance to teach what they are learning to K-12 students?
Rachel Adler
Assistant Professor
So far some of the pre-service teachers who have helped create the modules have presented at conferences/symposia, but in general our pre-services teachers have not yet had a chance to use what they have learned in K-12 classrooms- that is next for us!
Karletta Chief
I enjoyed the interview by the student who aims to be a math teacher and explains the need to get training in simulation for developing her curriculum.
Rachel Adler
Assistant Professor
Thank you!
Michael Haney
Thank you for the presentation, this is an exciting project especially because it reaches pre service teachers who should find many uses for these techniques in their teaching careers. Both science and math are often taught without uses of data which certainly is not how either field is practiced in the real world. Kudos for the idea and the follow through. It is so important that you gather data on those teachers’ classrooms several years hence, the impact could be substantial and important.
Apologies for for being late to the conversation...
Rachel Adler
Assistant Professor
Thanks! You are definitely right!
Further posting is closed as the showcase has ended.