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…

Background and Context: Educators and researchers are interested in building the computational thinking (CT) skills of K-12 students. However, the availability of language-agnostic assessments for lower elementary graders remains limited. Objective: We present preliminary insights into the reliability and validity of the Computational Thinking…

Expansive Framing (EF) is a theory and an instructional technique to facilitate connections between content and contexts. We employed EF as an approach to create a series of integrated mathematics and computer science (CS) lessons, using digital technology as a tool to leverage shared mathematical and computational ideas. We used deductive…

Elementary school teachers are increasingly being asked to teach computer science (CS)--a subject area with which they often have little familiarity. To address this gap, teacher professional development (PD) is a common approach for helping teachers become familiar with CS content. This paper describes a collaborative PD designed to accompany a…

Access to high-quality computer science education remains uneven across the United States, with rural schools facing persistent barriers including limited staffing, outdated infrastructure, and constrained professional development opportunities (Gutierrez & Terrones, 2023; Showalter et al., 2019). Computer Science in Rural California (branded…

Background: Early exposure to Computer Science (CS) and Computational Thinking (CT) for all is critical to broaden participation and promote equity in the field. But how does the introduction of CS and CT into primary school curricula impact learning, perception, and gaps between groups of students? Methodology: We investigate a CS-curricular…