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Supporting Elementary Teachers’ Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge in Computational Thinking Integration

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Abstract

As more states in the USA require elementary schools to offer computer science (CS) education, teachers are expected to master the knowledge and skills to teach CS by integrating computational thinking (CT) into content areas. This study presented a research-practice partnership approach to support elementary teachers in a local school district with CT integration. Professional development (PD) followed the technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK) framework, and three elementary teachers’ PD and classroom implementation experiences were examined and reported as a multiple case study. Interviews, observations, and teacher artifacts and reflections were collected and analyzed. The cross-case analysis revealed that the teachers (1) had an improved understanding of how CS/CT connects with content areas and how to make alignments across content standards, (2) demonstrated concrete strategies for designing and implementing CT-integrated instruction with various coding tools, and (3) provided students with engaging and inclusive learning experiences using a range of pedagogies. The paper discussed the implications for CS education at the elementary level.

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Availability of Data and Materials

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We are deeply appreciative of the teachers who participated in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Education, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487, USA

    Feiya Luo, Stephen Abiodun Ijeluola, Jill Westerlund & André Denham

  2. Tuscaloosa City Schools, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA

    Amanda Walker, John Walker & Cherelle Young

Authors
  1. Feiya Luo
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  2. Stephen Abiodun Ijeluola
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  3. Jill Westerlund
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  4. Amanda Walker
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  5. André Denham
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  7. Cherelle Young
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Contributions

Conceptualization: Feiya Luo; methodology: Feiya Luo; formal analysis and investigation: Feiya Luo, Stephen Abiodun Ijeluola, Jill Westerlund; writing—original draft preparation: Feiya Luo, Stephen Abiodun Ijeluola, Jill Westerlund; writing—review and editing: Feiya Luo, Stephen Abiodun Ijeluola, Jill Westerlund, Amanda Walker, André Denham, John Walker, and Cherelle Young; funding acquisition: NA; resources: NA; supervision: Feiya Luo. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Feiya Luo.

Ethics declarations

Ethics Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the University of Alabama’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) (Protocol ID: 20-09-3929).

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Luo, F., Ijeluola, S.A., Westerlund, J. et al. Supporting Elementary Teachers’ Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge in Computational Thinking Integration. J Sci Educ Technol 32, 583–596 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-023-10045-0

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