The study examined the Advancing Rural Computer Science (ARCS) program, a professional development initiative designed to improve elementary teachers' computer science (CS) content knowledge, pedagogical practices, and self-efficacy, with the goal of enhancing K-5 students' interest in and knowledge of CS. ARCS was funded through USED EIR…

Context: With the introduction of Computer Science (CS) into curricula worldwide, teachers' adoption of CS pedagogical content is essential to ensure the long-term success of reform initiatives. Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programs play a key role in this process. Unfortunately, adoption is seldom evaluated in CS-CPDs or CPDs in…

Developing student interest is critical to supporting student learning in computer science. Research indicates that student interest is a key predictor of persistence and achievement. While there is a growing body of work on developing computing identities for diverse students, little research focuses on early exposure to develop multilingual…

Current policy efforts that seek to improve learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) emphasize the importance of helping all students acquire concepts and tools from computer science that help them analyze and develop solutions to everyday problems. These goals have been generally described in the literature under the…