#245: Teacher as Designers: Using Robotics to Integrate Computational Thinking and Science

This study examines how middle school science teachers designed and implemented robotics-based units that integrated computational thinking (CT) practices following a professional development (PD) program positioning them as curriculum designers. Drawing on Waterman et al.’s (2020) and Coenraad et al.’s (2022) integration frameworks and the project’s CT framework (Bernstein et al., 2025), we analyzed teacher interviews, implementation logs, lesson plans, and student materials from six teachers across twelve units. Findings show that teachers implemented CT at multiple integration levels, engaging students in algorithm design, decomposition, abstraction, pattern recognition, and data practices. Teachers explored CT practices to establish foundational understanding, enhanced CT–science connections through scaffolds, and guided students to exhibit disciplinary ideas through programmable models and extend understanding by collecting and analyzing data. These findings illustrate how positioning teachers as informed designers supports CT-integrated science curricula.