Expanding STEM Education in Elementary Schools through Computer Science Integration

K-12 STEAM education

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

In K-12 STEAM education there is increasing importance placed on computer science education (CSed), yet little is known about CSed in elementary classrooms. What is known is that significant, enduring equity issues exist within CSed, and these issues begin to emerge at the elementary level. To compound the equity issues, there is a lack of qualified CS teachers in elementary schools, particularly in urban and low SES settings. Calls have been put forth at the state and national level to increase CS teaching capacity, however, gaps remain. Elementary students in marginalized communities are significantly less likely to have access to CS experiences due to a lack of qualified CS teachers. Our proposal seems to address these specific CS capacity and equity issues by expanding existing efforts to provide professional development for teachers as well as hands-on, engaging, and culturally relevant experiences for students in local South Los Angeles schools.

This project aims to minimize equity gaps in computer science (CS) education and provide essential professional development (PD) to preservice (future) and inservice (current) teachers. The goal is to expand existing partnerships between our institute and local TK-12 schools within LAUSD, the epicenter of the targeted constituents of LA2050. Our staff will work with inservice teachers to create hands-on, student-centered, culturally relevant CS activities (that also address foundational artificial intelligence knowledge) to be delivered at an elementary school within LAUSD. CSUDH preservice teachers will co-facilitate these events. The goal is for all students from a particular grade level to participate and all teachers at the school site to help co-design CS activities and engage in this meaningful professional development opportunity. This model was used for the past three years with great success at a local elementary in South Central Los Angeles. Each year, we were able to serve all students at the 4th grade level and kindergarten level (~240 students, including all students with disabilities who participated with their grade-level peers). Additionally, ~30-40 preservice teachers attend, and ~10 inservice teachers participate. Over the course of these teachers' careers, thousands of local South Los Angeles students will be impacted as these preservice and inservice teachers become more confident with integrating CS education into their classrooms.

If SITE’s work is successful, Los Angeles Unified Schools, particularly those in South Los Angeles, should see an improvement in CSed equity for elementary students. This will be done by: Strengthening the existing partnership between the institute and local school. Increasing Teacher Capacity through co-designing and delivering CS activities with SITE Staff. Using this model, preservice and inservice teachers gain valuable hands-on experience and become more confident in integrating CS into their classrooms. Reduced Equity Gap by training more elementary teachers, especially those in South Los Angeles, to be equipped to provide foundational CS education through. This will increase access to CS experiences for students who currently miss out due to lack of qualified teachers. In sum, participation will lead to a more equitable CS education landscape in Los Angeles elementary schools, inspiring more students from underserved communities to explore and pursue CS.

This model has already proven successful over the past 3 years. We measure success by teacher feedback and reported student outcomes. Teachers have already reported increased confidence and engaging in more CS integration outside of our existing work. Our vision for success includes an increase of elementary teachers integrating CS into their curriculum, and gains in student CS knowledge and interest. Our intended impact includes closing the equity gap in CSed by ensuring all elementary students in Los Angeles have access to teachers qualified to teach/integrate CSed, empowering new generations of teachers to integrate CS into their classrooms and spark interest in CS for traditionally underrepresented and underserved students. Our long-term scaling efforts require funding to expand our work integrating CS into more classrooms while simultaneously developing and sharing our e-curriculum library with lessons that teachers can draw from at any time.