I situate computer programming as a cultural practice. I develop this perspective in two ways: exploring how programming practices can support intercultural learning, and examining how programming tools themselves embed cultural assumptions and values. For the former, I study how relationships across difference are formed over computing activities…

This dissertation follows a manuscript-style format, beginning with an introduction and literature review, followed by three distinct studies and a concluding section. All three studies use "Lucky Codes," an educational board game designed to foster computational thinking skills in elementary students, as the intervention. The first…

In this research, social media data from a public school district was utilized to help improve district communication during and after a crisis. Data was analyzed by utilizing the programming languages R and Python. The programming languages helped generate data that allowed this research to evaluate how the quality of crisis communication could…

It is becoming increasingly necessary for every child to have experience with 21st century Computational Thinking (CT) skills including learning to program. Considerable efforts have been made within the last two decades including the development and widespread use of novice-friendly block-based programming environments such as Scratch and Snap!…

We live in a digital age and technology is constantly changing, therefore the way people learn and perceive information is starting to change. Hence, virtual learning environments may be a new and innovative way to stimulate minds. In the book "Virtually There," Stephen Heppell explains, Learning is breaking out of the narrow boxes that…

The purpose of this study is to examine whether participation in robotics provides opportunities for educational and professional skill development, significant enough to merit the recommendation of robotics courses as a part of mainstream curriculum offerings in K-12 schools. This non-experimental, mixed methods study examined current junior high…

Advances in technology have caused high schools to update their computer science curricula; however there has been little analogous attention to technology-related education in middle schools. With respect to computer-related knowledge and skills, middle school students are at a critical phase in life, exploring individualized education options…

If it is true that bullying begins in elementary school and peaks in middle school, schools are obvious laboratories of research, undeniable arenas of investigation. With a reality of physical, social, and emotional undoing, and a result of serious short and long term repercussions, this phenomenon not only affects the social environments, but the…

This study explored the development of student's conceptual understandings of limit and derivative when utilizing specifically designed computational tools. Fourteen students from a secondary Advanced Placement Calculus AB course learned and explored the limit and derivative concepts from differential calculus using visualization tools in the…

The importance of school counselors in influencing positive change in students is well established. Far less research is available documenting school counselor use of data driven decision making to positively impact identified groups of at risk students. Hispanics represent the largest and fastest growing student population for academic…

Among educational researchers and practitioners, there is a growing interest in employing computer games for pedagogical purposes. The present research integrated a technology education class and a science class where 5th graders learned about environmental issues by designing games that involved environmental concepts. The purposes of this study…