The ScratchEd project, led by faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and professionals at the Education Development Center, is designing, developing, and studying an innovative model for professional development (PD) of teachers who use the Scratch computer programming environment to help their students learn computational thinking. The fundamental hypothesis of the project is that engagement in workshops and on-line activities of the ScratchEd professional development community will enhance teacher knowledge about computational thinking, their practice of design-based instruction, and their students' learning of key computational thinking concepts and habits of mind.

The effectiveness of the ScratchEd project is being evaluated by research addressing four specific questions: (1) What are the levels of teacher participation in the various ScratchEd PD offerings and what do teachers think of these experiences? (2) Do teachers who participate in ScratchEd PD activities change their use of Scratch in classroom instruction to create design-based learning opportunities? (3) Do the students of teachers who participate in the ScratchEd PD activities show evidence of developing an understanding of computational thinking concepts and processes? (4) When the research instruments developed for the evaluation are made available for teachers in the Scratch community to use for self-evaluation, how do teachers make use of them? Because both computational thinking and design-based instruction are complex activities, the project research is using a combination of survey, interview, and artifact analysis methods to answer the questions.

The ScratchEd professional development and research work will provide important insight into the challenge of helping teachers create productive learning environments for development of computational thinking. Those efforts will also yield a set of evaluation tools that can be integrated into the ScratchEd resources and used by others to study development of computational thinking and design-based instruction.

Events

Social Media

An ongoing partnership between learning scientists and science educators from the University of Washington and school district leaders from Bellevue School District along with curriculum specialists and teachers is conducting research and development on a new science learning environment. Previously researchers in the College of Education and at the LIFE Center at the University of Washington have developed two fifth grade science modules used in the school district. One takes a socio-cognitive approach, leveraging authentic science practices and questions, student choice, and communication of ideas into a challenge-based design. The other takes a socio-cultural perspective, aiming to bridge informal and formal learning environments by leveraging into formal science curricula students' culturally based repertoires of practice to try out and revise their own ideas based on evidence and discussion. This research and development project develops and tests in the classroom two fifth- grade and two second-grade biological science units that combine both perspectives in order to more fully engage both students and teachers in authentic inquiry and tests the units in second- and fifth- grade classrooms.

The research focuses on how the new learning designs affect learners' a) concepts of science and scientific inquiry; b) ability to collaborate productively; c) engagement, interest and science self efficacy; and d) sense of classroom community. The results are compared to matched control groups using FOSS units in the same subject area. The project also studies the extent to which the design principles and outcomes are generalizable across and within branches of science and are developmentally appropriate. The theoretical frameworks, curriculum resources and embedded professional development opportunities needed for sustainability and continuous improvement are investigated. The external evaluator assesses the quality of the research design and instruments as well as the quality of the science modules developed. An Advisory Committee monitors the work.

This project focuses on several ways of creating learning experiences that provide agency for elementary school students and excite them to pursue STEM pathways. Opportunities are provided to more fully explore the importance of connecting formal and informal learning experiences in ways that greatly boost the potencies of each. The project has the potential to create alternative learning designs to the kit-based science materials that are pervasive in elementary science classrooms.