Computational Literacies Lab

10: Supporting critical action

Week 10 (November 6)

Due: B. Ethnographic fieldnotes

How might teachers and schools support their students in understanding and resisting oppression?

Weekly video

Readings

Ryoo, J. J., Tanksley, T., Estrada, C., & Margolis, J. (2020). Take space, make space: How students use computer science to disrupt and resist marginalization in schools. Computer Science Education, 30(3), 337–361. https://doi.org/10.1080/08993408.2020.1805284

Vakil, S. (2018). Ethics, Identity, and Political Vision: Toward a Justice-Centered Approach to Equity in Computer Science Education. Harvard Educational Review, 88(1), 26–52. https://doi.org/10.17763/1943-5045-88.1.26

Notes

  • Logistics
    • Recording stories this week
    • Final case study assignment coming next week
  • Discussion reports
    • How do we define CS?
      • Lauren, Laura, Becca: Interdisciplinary vs standalone subject. Computing education.
      • Becca: "When reflecting on the school I am currently in, I struggle to think about a classroom, curriculum or place in the building that is not actively preparing students for a future that is drenched in technology and computers. they have become so ubiquitous. I think it might be interesting to ask the question the opposite way. Is there a space in education that is not preparing students for these realities? Is that problematic?"
      • Muhammad highlighted the importance of digital literacy and the need for designers and software engineers to tailor their apps or designs to suit their audience’s needs. Blessed added that computer science education should be more inclusive and should focus on teaching students how to navigate and use technology effectively, rather than just programming and coding...Muhammad criticized the traditional emphasis on programming skills and math components, arguing that this approach has limited the field’s appeal and excluded many potential learners. I added that computer science should be understood as situated cognition within a community, taking into account cultural competencies and community competences...Our discussion concluded with a call for proactive measures to address the root causes of challenges in computer science education, rather than just addressing the symptoms at a later stage.
      • Guzdial: small core of programming that will teach enough computational thinking to help them design tools in their own domains. (Danielle: Would this mean including computational thinking into other domains? I think that’s one solution, I don’t know it’s the right solution. Teachers would need to be prepared for it. Proper professional development, learn the intersection of CT and their domain. )
    • Questions:
      • Danielle: I always question what definition of computational thinking is the author using? Which definition should I be using? Is there a real definition?
  • Readings
    • Vakil
      • "I argue for a decisive conceptual pivot in how equity is conceptualized and enacted in CS education research and practice" (29)
      • Table 1:
        • Representations of ethics in CS curriucla
        • Identity in CS Learning environments
        • Political vision
    • Ryoo, Tanksley, Estrada, and Margolis: Take space, make space
      • "Overlaying Computer Science (CS) courses on top of inequitable schooling systems will not move us toward “CS for All.”
      • What are their goals?
        • Rightful presence: "a form of student agency where learners can experience new forms of participation and “new formations of place” that challenge traditional power and knowledge"
        • consequential learning: "that builds upon youth’s perspectives and what matters most to them" (Calabrese Barton)
        • resistance: "involves students both critiquing social oppression and being motivated by a desire for social justice" (Giroux)
          • reactionary/self-defeating/conformist/transformative
    • Do you share these goals? Do you see schools as oppressive?
    • What opportunities do you see for the introduction of CS into schools to address existing inequities?
    • Research question: From the perspective of minoritized students historically underrepresented in computing, what makes a critical difference for their sense of agency in introductory CS high school classes?
    • Methods: Ethnographic observations, focal students, grounded theory coding ("our unit of analysis focused on agency in relation to interactions between teachers and students, as well as students with their peers")
    • Findings:
      1. The positive relationships between student engagement, agency, and enacting positive social change
      2. Students carving out space for their voices to be heard
      3. Instructional strategies for supporting student agency
    • Take-away for teachers: "simply allowing students to choose the direction or focus of their projects is not enough. The three examples shared in this paper reflect the ways that CS classrooms can go a step beyond to provide productive contexts for youth agency: where students can feel that their effort results in consequential learning, and where they can have a rightful presence in CS spaces. This means that curricula and pedagogy need to acknowledge how the CS classroom is not divorced from the larger sociocultural and political contexts within which they sit, and that students should not have to fight to have their voices and perspectives heard within the CS classroom itself" (356).