Exploring Computation Integrated into Technology and Engineering II

Hofstra University will lead a CSforAll High School Strand Researcher Practitioner Partnership (RPP): Exploring Computation Integrated into Technology and Engineering II (ExCITE II). Technology and Engineering (T&E) teachers have generally not been prepared to teach computer Science (CS), yet they teach in virtually every one of the nation’s school districts and serve all student populations. ExCITE I conducted a teacher professional development (PD) pilot program with teams of teachers in Maryland and Virginia. ExCITE II will offer a full spectrum of PD workshops for T&E teachers and education leaders who serve diverse students in nine states (Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, New Jersey, and Minnesota) as a prototype for enabling T&E teachers nationwide to provide pedagogically sound advanced placement Computer Science Principles (AP CSP) instruction. The project will target districts and schools with large or majority populations of Black and Hispanic students. The project has been designed to use culturally relevant pedagogy to meet the needs of underrepresented populations and form the backbone of the Project’s PD efforts, that will lead to on the creation of an equitable classroom environment. The mission of ExCITE II is to implement a replicable model to expand CS participation by providing pedagogically sound AP CSP instruction for T&E students nationwide. Nine state RPPs will be created that will demonstrate the potential for scalable implementation of a recruitment and PD program for T&E HS teachers nationally. The Project will use hands-on computer-control engineering design challenges to stimulate high student engagement when learning about computer science principles. The RPP framework will enable practitioners to use powerful analytical tools such as the Strategic CSforALL Resource & Implementation Planning Tool (SCRIPT) process to recruit students from groups underrepresented in CS and ensure common outcomes in each of the state RPPs. The Project will coordinate its state-level efforts with that of the Expanding Computer Education Pathways Alliance (ECEP). The Project will intentionally focus on Black and Hispanic student populations as it aims to offer CS instruction to thousands of students in geographically, economically, ethnically, and racially diverse school districts. The use of an on-ramping evolutionary process ensures that after two years of Project support, every Project state would develop an in-state support and implementation team to continue the recruitment and training of T&E teachers into the future. The International Technology and Engineering Educators Association will sustain the work of the Project after the conclusion of the NSF funding cycle with wait-listed states, and 20 additional states recruited as a result of a National Dissemination Workshop. The Project will research and evaluate the impact of the PD, the Community of Practice ongoing support system, and the computer control and robotic activities on CS teaching and learning, on the recruitment, motivation, and retention of Black and Hispanic students, and on the engagement and identities of T&E teachers.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.