Collaborative Research: Time4CSforLouisiana: Participatory Design of Community-Focused and Integrated Elementary STEM Learning Experiences

About This Grant

This project will establish partnerships among traditional public schools and public charter schools in South Louisiana in both urban and rural school districts (Baton Rouge, New Iberia, etc.) and university partners (Louisiana State University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and the University of Chicago) to investigate the integration of computer science (CS) into core curricular topics in order to lay foundational support for a newly passed high school CS graduation requirement. The project team, composed of experienced K-8 practitioners and researchers, will design, develop, and pilot prototype instructional materials for integrating computer science into core elementary (grades 3-5) content areas. These instructional materials will be designed to primarily support South Louisiana students. The project has the potential to foster genuinely collaborative and responsive approaches teaching strategies and to produce high-quality curricular materials that teachers find easy to implement long after the project ends. The project starts its work in the domain of elementary school classrooms by adapting a previously developed, research-based approach to solving the problem of finding time for CS, a non-core subject, in the elementary school day. By focusing on elementary students, Time4CSforLouisiana has the potential to impact students' STEM interest and CS identity formation. Time4CSforLouisiana is a small Research-Practice Partnership (RPP) between public and public charter elementary school districts in South Louisiana, Louisiana State University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and the University of Chicago that investigates options to increase students' STEM and computer science (CS) identity through participatory design approaches. The project goals are to assemble a strong and well-integrated RPP team that builds a new partnership between educators from 4 school networks; design, develop, and pilot prototype instructional materials for integrating computer science into core elementary content areas; and generate new knowledge about participatory design of curriculum, focused on issues central to the participants' urban and rural communities. Time4CSforLouisiana will leverage work from a previous CSforAll project (Time4CSforAll, NSF #2031424) that designed a model for curriculum developers to authentically embed Universal Design for Learning and responsive pedagogy into elementary integrated Science+CS content, according to the needs and preferences of a partner school district in Florida. The project will result in example integrated curriculum materials being co-developed with 6 elementary school teachers and piloted with students in 6-12 South Louisiana classrooms, over an 18-month period. The RPP will explore how efforts to integrate CS into core elementary school curriculum can lay foundational support for nascent high school CS graduation requirements. Further, the project will explore the potential of community-inclusive participatory design approaches to develop STEM and CS curriculum and instruction that prioritizes the preferences and needs of children and teachers and their local contexts. The project will result in a protocol for authentically and respectfully including community members in Research-Practice Partnerships focused on bringing CS to their communities. This project is funded through the Computer Science for All: Research and RPPs program. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.