Teachers' Perspective on Implementing Computational Thinking in Elementary Classrooms

Abstract

Computational thinking (CT) is a thought process designed to help students better solve complex problems using mental tools such as decomposition, abstraction, heuristics, data collection, algorithms, modeling, and communication (Wing, 2006). This study is part of a larger National Science Foundation funded STEM+C (computing) study that integrates CT in informal STEM learning. The informal STEM+CT curriculum resulted from the large study was guided by project-based learning (PBL) to help 4th to 6th grade students practice CT in the context of problem solving. Twenty-four teachers have worked with small groups of students in an afterschool community center program over an 8-weeks period. The larger STEM+C study also encouraged teachers in adapting the informal STEM+CT curriculum in their own classrooms, which eight of the 24 teachers have done so. This study investigates the participating teacher's perspective on implementing CT into elementary classrooms after they had facilitated the STEM+CT curriculum in community centers' after-school programs via interviewing 12 of the 24 teachers. The current study focuses on the challenges and issues regarding implementing CT in elementary classrooms. The results show that teachers collectively place the lack of time and the lack of professional development as the major obstacles in integrating CT into elementary classrooms.