#905: Frame Alignment and Feedback in CT-ified Science Classrooms

While computational thinking (CT) is an integral part of modern scientific inquiry, STEM teachers struggle to incorporate these ideas in classrooms. We report on the efforts of a design-based implementation research project in which teachers participate in a constructionist co-design process to design and then implement CT-ified STEM units in their classrooms. Using feedback teachers left on student responses from these unit implementations, we utilize a basic bag-of-words model to show that teachers did specifically attend to student learning at the intersection of CT and STEM. We then further explicate this evidence through a qualitative think-aloud interview with one of the teachers who designed and implemented a curriculum based around computational models in biology. What we find is evidence that STEM teachers in CT-ified classrooms can assess both CT and STEM skills at the same time though this intersection still needs additional attention in terms of tools and PD for teachers.