This paper highlights the year-one (pilot) findings of a three-year project on emerging technologies where students engaged in computer modeling, 3D printing, flight simulation, and drones during summer camps and afterschool programs in rural and urban districts. The pilot was iterative as different interventions were field-tested in specific…

This research examined over 200 elementary students' pre and post-test changes in computational thinking from a 10-week coding program delivered as part of the regular school day. Participants benefited from early access to computer science (CS) lessons with increases in understanding and applying coding concepts. Interviews from participants…

The paper examines how computational thinking can be taught to young children with the use of educational robotics using the kit LEGO WeDo. Computational thinking was measured in terms of four sub-skills, namely, sequencing, correspondence between actions and instructions, debugging, and flow of control. Students were assigned to an experimental…

We developed the Draw-A-Computer-Scientist-Test (DACST) to better understand elementary school students' conceptions of computer scientists and the nature of their work. By understanding how young children perceive computer scientists, we can broaden their ideas about the activities and images of computer scientists. We administered the DACST to…