NSF Awards: 1640135
Research suggests that embedding CT in basic preschool math instruction could create powerful learning experiences for early learners. To explore this, public media producers from WGBH and Kentucky Educational Television and researchers from Education Development Center teamed up on the project Integrating Computational Thinking into Mathematics Instruction in Rural and Urban Preschools.
The team began the project by developing two foundational documents: a learning blueprint and an alignment document identifying the relationship between the learning goals and preschool math instruction. The team then iteratively developed prototypes of three tablet apps and 12 hands-on activities that focused on the CT concepts of sequencing, debugging, and modularity in ways that leverage children's math skills.
The apps and hands-on activities were tested with 16 teachers in rural and urban preschools serving low-income students. Researchers observed these testing sessions and then analyzed their notes to identify promising practices and areas for improvement for the prototypes. Videos from the testing sessions were also analyzed for children's CT learning and teachers' CT understanding.
As this project is now complete, this video provides a summary of our research findings.
James Brown
5/6 STEM Teacher
Thank you for sharing. Do you have plans to translate the findings from this work into improved teacher professional development?
Marisa Wolsky
Executive Producer
Hello James,
This was an exploratory grant, but our hope is to use the findings as a basis for a future funding request, with which we could develop improved teacher professional development.
Thank you for your interest in our work! Marisa
James Brown
Chris Mainhart
The findings suggested more about the need for PD for the teachers than the impact on the students. It would be great to see a follow-up study that includes PD for the teachers prior to introducing the experiences to the young students.
DeLene Hoffner
Program Coordinator
Wonderful video and project. It's very intriguing and inspiring. A point you made in your video made me wonder, why do you suppose that educators are more likely to focus children on practicing math skills more than applying computational thinking skills to solve a problem?
DeLene Hoffner
Program Coordinator
1:45 of the video
Marisa Wolsky
Executive Producer
Hi DeLene, It is really a matter of comfort level. While it appears that teachers are very comfortable with providing the scaffolding that children need to leverage their mathematical knowledge, teachers appear less comfortable in knowing the right kinds of scaffolding to support the exploration of a CT-focused way of solving a problem. Children also appeared to be very comfortable with the math knowledge required across the set of digital apps and hands-on activities we prototyped. Likewise, teachers appeared very confident in their strategies to support the math components of the activities.
Thanks for your question and your interest in our project, Marisa
DeLene Hoffner
Program Coordinator
Thank you for that informative response. It's very compelling to think how the approach can change a way of thinking. Thanks!
Stacey Forsyth
Director
Nice video! I imagine that many preschool teachers might be intimidated by the idea of teaching/supporting computational thinking. Do you have any suggestions of strategies that worked well to increase preschool educators' comfort level with CT?
Marisa Wolsky
Executive Producer
Thanks, Stacey. Here are some recommendations that came from our research. Best, Marisa
Providing a general framework for how classroom activities are explored in a CT-way can provide opportunities for teachers to develop a schema for supporting children during these types of activities. Specifically:
Stacey Forsyth
Michael I. Swart
Great work and great skills to teach pre-K. Do the games produce a data log that you can leverage for iterative design development of the UX as well as the curriculum? If so, what variables can you track and what is their relation to learning?
Marisa Wolsky
Executive Producer
Hi Michael,
The games we developed were designed to be used offline so we did not produce a data log that would inform iterative design development. However, for this project, we had multiple opportunities to collect observational data from children as they played the games. This data is what informed the iterative development. Thank you for your question! Marisa
DeLene Hoffner
Program Coordinator
What would you say is your greatest challenge in this project?
Marisa Wolsky
Executive Producer
Hi DeLene,
I think one of our greatest challenges was the iterative development of our hands-on, CT learning tasks to assess young children’s CT knowledge. It was very challenging to create tasks that are as authentic as possible, asking children to solve relatable, real-world problems, provide for open-ended responses to showcase children’s abilities to use CT skills; and allow the assessor to document not only children’s ability to solve a problem, but also the process with which they approach problem-solving. It is also challenging to develop tasks that can be reliably administered to children with wide-ranging abilities. We hope to find funding in the future to further explore how to address challenges. Cheers, Marisa
DeLene Hoffner
Traci Higgins
What an interesting project. I'm curious about the learning blue print your team developed. I'd love a little more info on that. I also found the research around what worked well and what was more challenging really useful and well thought through. Given what you learned from your research, what would be one or two pieces of advice you'd give to other researchers doing similar work?
Heather Lavigne
Research Scientist
Hi Traci! Thanks for your question. We've thought so much about the lessons we'd want to apply to our future work. Happy to share my own reflections on the research with you. Here's what I'd say are the biggest pieces of advice I'd give to other researchers based on this experience.
And side note: I just watched your Showcase video on your Data Clubs project. How cool! I can see how what we're doing with younger kids would help support middle school students' engagement with analyzing data later in life. I love how our projects all fit together in helping students put CT skills to work. Also - I was so struck by the relevance of the investigation you had students do for the world we're living in right now. So many adults could benefit from the skills that students are gathering from Data Clubs!!
DeLene Hoffner
Traci Higgins
Yes! Kids love to explore, tinker, figure out--and when they are given those opportunities starting at the earliest stages of learning I think they really get hooked on learning, they develop confidence in their reasoning, and they come to value the sort of systematic and careful thinking that is at the heart of all STEM disciplines. Your three pieces of advice make a lot of sense to me. We've got to make a case for why this work is important. Finding ways to measure or document the types of rich learning we want to see within a diverse and developing population is a huge challenge. And I really found your comment about capturing the learning on video compelling. Being able to bring those videos to project meetings and spend time reflecting on on both what students say and do, and returning to those images over time, is an invaluable piece of our own learning as we do this work.
Marley Jarvis
Thanks for sharing your work! Can you talk a little bit more about what all CT entails? What skills "count" as computational thinking? How does this vary from other thinking models, such as inquiry?
Marisa Wolsky
Executive Producer
Hi Marley,
While the importance of CT is broadly recognized, there is no singular, agreed-upon definition. While CT forms the foundation of computer programming, many recognize its value goes beyond the goals of computer science. We ascribe to this broader view. Drawing from the literature, and in consultation with expert advisors, we have established the following definition for preschool-aged children: CT is a creative way of thinking that empowers children to use systematic strategies while solving problems or reaching a goal. CT enables children to identify problems/goals and then brainstorm and generate solutions/processes that can be communicated and followed by computers or humans.
For this project, WGBH and EDC created a learning blueprint that drew from the literature to identify six CT core ideas for 4- and 5-year-old children:
Problem Decomposition: Breaking down a problem into smaller parts that are easier to solve.
Algorithmic Thinking: Creating a set of ordered steps (sequencing) and then doing them in a particular order to solve a problem or accomplish a task in a way that could be repeated by others (using an algorithm).
Pattern Recognition: Noticing when objects, events, or steps repeat or grow in a predictable way (a pattern), to help make sense of situations or problems.
Logical Reasoning: Understanding how one action or event (cause) brings about another (effect), and how conditions can alter this causal relationship.
Design Process: Making something using a three-step process: create something new, test it to see how it works, and improve it using what you learned from testing.
Debugging Process: When a solution is not working the way it was intended, reflecting on what was done and figuring out what changes to make to get a better result.
CT is an integrator of curriculum, meaning it fosters problem-solving across a wide range of disciplines, including math, science, engineering, and literacy. As such, CT can be a powerful tool for science investigations
Let us know if this answers your question. Best, Marisa
DeLene Hoffner
Marley Jarvis
Marley Jarvis
Thank you, that is helpful! I do a lot of thinking around inquiry, inquiry-based learning, etc. and supporting that in preschoolers as well as even younger kids. I'm interested to see some similarities here. Have you all thought much about how this might translate for infants and toddlers? I think they are doing some of this kind of exploration already!
Marisa Wolsky
Executive Producer
Hi Marley,
Yes, they are certainly doing this kind of exploration. We have not thought about how it might translate for infants and toddlers, primarily because WGBH mostly focuses its work on older children. Food for thought for a future direction. Thanks! Marisa
DeLene Hoffner
Program Coordinator
Your responses are so well done and thoughtful. Thank you for taking the time to share all your insights ! What was your biggest ah-ha? (a discovery or WOW moment)
Marisa Wolsky
Executive Producer
Hi DeLane,
I would say for me, as a content developer, understanding that preschool teachers don't naturally provide preschool children opportunities in which they can utilize strategies that promote processing: allowing children time to notice something that may be causing a problem and then supporting them in identifying the problem themselves, involving them in decision-making, and encouraging them to work together to test solutions. This includes slowing the pace of exciting activities to ensure that there is room for thoughtful reflection and allowing children to engage in productive struggle so that teachers wait until solutions fail before providing a clue about a specific solution that is more likely to succeed. Supporting teachers in doing so is crucial for CT learning. Best, Marisa
DeLene Hoffner
DeLene Hoffner
Program Coordinator
I love it! Slowing things down, allowing time to struggle, wonder, think... just a few of your points but all allow for development of a deeper understanding. I would also say time to talk would be another one that is implied in your comments. Aother level of processing and learning is acheived when preschoolers can verbalize what they are thinking, discuss ideas with peer, and be guided by strategic questions from the teacher.
Marisa Wolsky
Executive Producer
Absolutely! Supporting teachers in asking open-ended questions to identify and discuss a problem and having them help children verbalize their thinking, recap the steps of a sequence after they do them correctly to reinforce the sequence, and reflect on solutions are all crucial in order to promote children's computational thinking. Best, Marisa
Paul Foster
Working in a PK-12 urban school district, I am very interested in the idea of introducing CT in PreK (the earlier the better I think). I also appreciate the point about supporting teachers to develop the skills around helping children solve the problem versus either solving it for them or having them start over. Given that you mentioned earlier pursuing funding to expand the work, if we started to scale this out somewhat more broadly, what are things you might add into the project and/or do differently to further support teachers? Thanks!
DeLene Hoffner
Program Coordinator
Paul, I think it is terrific that you want to bring CT to your teachers to build early skills. I also feel the earlier the better! I taught preschool and kindergarten for years. Now I'd like to build this into my professional development courses. So...I am also interested in knowing the answer to your question...
if we started to scale this out somewhat more broadly, what are things you might add into the project and/or do differently to further support teachers?
Marisa Wolsky
Executive Producer
Hi Paul and Delane,
For sure, we know that we need to build in trainings/PD. We also know that CT struggles for space. We found that teachers are not immediately recognizing its value. We think for our next phase we needs to explore how to connect to why it’s a natural fit, so that it doesn’t feel extraneous. One way to do that would we be to align CT with school readiness. In addition, with this project, we were only testing with 9 teachers. In our next phase of work, we would like to work with a lot more teachers to account for variability. Best, Marisa
Kyle Boyer
It's amazing to see work like this being done with such young age groups! I have spent a lot of time teaching programming and debugging to college students, and it is fascinating to see how similar the challenges seem to be. My (anecdotal) experience has been that college students struggle with the exact same areas you highlighted in your video. It will be interesting to see if that changes as early CT education becomes more common.