Designing for Equity in Education Via Computational Thinking: A Case Study
CADRE (Catalyst for Actively Designing and Researching Equity) is a Researcher-Practitioner Partnership (RPP) that empowers in-service K-12 educators to learn and apply Computational Thinking (CT) to design for equity in their classrooms, schools, and districts. In this RPP, we cast equity gaps as bugs in education and focus on helping educators debug the system with CT-based tools, methods, and strategies. Via CADRE, educators applied Equity Cycles that integrated user-centered design, system abstraction, and iteration to remove structural, instructional, and curricular barriers in K-12 learning environments. To date, CADRE has been implemented with 34 educators from various educational roles, such as core content teachers (i.e., math, science, English, reading), district and school leaders, and specialized educators (i.e., special education educators, English learner service coordinators, counselors, and librarians). In this paper, we first describe how educators were taught CT and applied these skills in their various roles. We then highlight the results of the qualitative case study where we found that CT tools, methods, and strategies helped educators apply a ‘scientific approach’ toward equity and gain a better understanding of the equity gaps their students faced. Implications for future research are also discussed.
Fri 22 MarDisplayed time zone: Pacific Time (US & Canada) change
15:45 - 17:00 | Social Justice and EquityPapers at Meeting Rooms B113-114 Chair(s): Carl Haynes-Magyar Carnegie Mellon University | ||
15:45 25mTalk | Designing for Equity in Education Via Computational Thinking: A Case Study Papers Ryoko Yamaguchi Plus Alpha Research and Consulting, Cyntrica Eaton Eaton Technologies Consulting Group DOI | ||
16:10 25mTalk | "It Can Relate to Real Lives'': Attitudes and Expectations in Justice-Centered Data Structures & Algorithms for Non-Majors Papers Anna Batra University of Washington, Iris Zhou University of Washington, Suh Young Choi University of Washington, Chongjiu Gao University of Washington, Yanbing Xiao University of Washington, Sonia Fereidooni University of Washington, Kevin Lin University of Washington, Seattle DOI | ||
16:35 25mTalk | Undergraduate Student Attitudes towards a Social Justice Context in a Programming Project Papers Aadarsh Padiyath University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Kyle Ashburn University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Barbara Ericson University of Michigan DOI |