“Los Programadores Debieron Pensarse Como Dos Veces”: Exploring the Intersections of Language, Power, and Technology with Bi/Multilingual Students

Critical computing approaches to K-12 computer science education aim to promote justice in computing and the wider world. Despite being intertwined with inequitable power dynamics in computing, issues of linguistic (in)justice have received less attention in critical computing. In this article, I draw on theoretical ideas from sociolinguistics and critical computing to analyze qualitative data collected in computing and technology-integrated language and humanities classes serving emergent bi/multilingual middle school students. Conversations about language, technology, and power were close at hand in focal classrooms, and surfaced in moments when students acted as users and critics of, and tinkerers with, digital tools. Students exercised agency in relation to both technology and language—using their budding understandings of language to question digital tools, and their engagements with tools to challenge traditional language ideologies. I build on past scholarship and the findings of this analysis to argue for the development of critical translingual computing education —an approach that would engage especially language-minoritized students in critical computing to build on and affirm their language practices and promote linguistic justice in computer science education, fields, and tools.

Download Full-text

An International Comparison of K-12 Computer Science Education Intended and Enacted Curricula

Proceedings of the 19th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research - Koli Calling '19 ◽

10.1145/3364510.3364517 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Katrina Falkner ◽

Sue Sentance ◽

Rebecca Vivian ◽

Sarah Barksdale ◽

Leonard Busuttil ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Science Education ◽

Computer Science ◽

International Comparison ◽

Computer Science Education ◽

K 12

Download Full-text

After-Hours Learning

ACM Transactions on Computing Education ◽

10.1145/3446964 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (2) ◽

pp. 1-31

Author(s):

Joslenne Peña ◽

Benjamin V. Hanrahan ◽

Mary Beth Rosson ◽

Carmen Cole

Keyword(s):

Science Education ◽

Computer Science ◽

Young Women ◽

Computer Programming ◽

Computer Science Education ◽

Professional Women ◽

Web Development ◽

Learning Space ◽

After Hours ◽

K 12

Many initiatives have focused on attracting girls and young women (K-12 or college) to computer science education. However, professional women who never learned to program have been largely ignored, despite the fact that such individuals may have many opportunities to benefit from enhanced skills and attitudes about computer programming. To provide a convenient learning space for this population, we created and evaluated the impacts of a nine-week web development workshop that was carefully designed to be both comfortable and engaging for this population. In this article, we report how the professionals’ attitudes and skills grew over the course of the workshop and how they now expect to integrate these skills and attitudes into their everyday lives.

Download Full-text

Developing Interactive Visualizations Focusing on Computational Thinking in K-12 Computer Science Education

Proceedings of the 26th ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 2 ◽

10.1145/3456565.3460025 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Tomas Šiaulys

Keyword(s):

Science Education ◽

Computer Science ◽

Computer Science Education ◽

Computational Thinking ◽

Interactive Visualizations ◽

K 12

Download Full-text

Computational Thinking, Between Papert and Wing

Science & Education ◽

10.1007/s11191-021-00202-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Michael Lodi ◽

Simone Martini

Keyword(s):

Science Education ◽

Computer Science ◽

Computer Science Education ◽

Computational Thinking ◽

School Curriculum ◽

Common Theme ◽

Technical Content ◽

Technical Competencies ◽

K 12 ◽

Affective Involvement

AbstractThe pervasiveness of Computer Science (CS) in today’s digital society and the extensive use of computational methods in other sciences call for its introduction in the school curriculum. Hence, Computer Science Education is becoming more and more relevant. In CS K-12 education, computational thinking (CT) is one of the abused buzzwords: different stakeholders (media, educators, politicians) give it different meanings, some more oriented to CS, others more linked to its interdisciplinary value. The expression was introduced by two leading researchers, Jeannette Wing (in 2006) and Seymour Papert (much early, in 1980), each of them stressing different aspects of a common theme. This paper will use a historical approach to review, discuss, and put in context these first two educational and epistemological approaches to CT. We will relate them to today’s context and evaluate what aspects are still relevant for CS K-12 education. Of the two, particular interest is devoted to “Papert’s CT,” which is the lesser-known and the lesser-studied. We will conclude that “Wing’s CT” and “Papert’s CT,” when correctly understood, are both relevant to today’s computer science education. From Wing, we should retain computer science’s centrality, CT being the (scientific and cultural) substratum of the technical competencies. Under this interpretation, CT is a lens and a set of categories for understanding the algorithmic fabric of today’s world. From Papert, we should retain the constructionist idea that only a social and affective involvement of students into the technical content will make programming an interdisciplinary tool for learning (also) other disciplines. We will also discuss the often quoted (and often unverified) claim that CT automatically “transfers” to other broad 21st century skills. Our analysis will be relevant for educators and scholars to recognize and avoid misconceptions and build on the two core roots of CT.

Download Full-text