Creating Equitable CS Experiences
Introduction
There are many barriers to bringing computer science (CS) education to K-8 students. During a 2020 virtual session on this topic at the Virginia Society for Technology in Education (VSTE) Conference, participants quickly identified a lack of time, experience, training, devices, and buy-in as barriers. We know that K-8 teachers do not receive much in the way of preparation to teach CS through their formal education (Delyser et al, 2018). Another challenge is the pervasive and persistent racial and gender gaps in CS education and tech (DuBow & Gonzalez, 2020). Interest in and knowledge of CS is still relatively low for students who identify as female, Black, and/or Latinx (Cerf & Johnson, 2016). A positive experience with CS education in K-8 can go a long way toward bridging that gap while a negative experience builds more barriers (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2021).
The CCSC RPP develops CS-infused curriculum resources and trains teachers to engage their diverse K-8 student populations in the field of CS by creating equitable CS environments. Initial results from the RPP suggest that K-8 teachers greatly benefit from PD experiences that focus on CS pedagogy and equitable teaching strategies (Wilkens, Tchonievich, & Chiu, 2021). If you are a K-8 teacher with a mandate to incorporate CS standards into your curriculum but find yourself without much in the way of professional support, we hope these strategies can help set the stage for your success. If you are already a CS champion in your classroom or school, we hope they will give you more fuel for your passion and resources you can share with others.
First, a word about these strategies. They are all about reducing or mitigating negative impacts from things like implicit bias that are really just a natural part of how our brain works. Also, these strategies are not unique to CS education, but because of the lack of diversity in CS and the technology field overall, they really need to go hand and hand with pedagogical strategies. That makes this work personal and challenging while also being rewarding and impactful.
The CCSC RPP develops CS-infused curriculum resources and trains teachers to engage their diverse K-8 student populations in the field of CS by creating equitable CS environments. Initial results from the RPP suggest that K-8 teachers greatly benefit from PD experiences that focus on CS pedagogy and equitable teaching strategies (Wilkens, Tchonievich, & Chiu, 2021). If you are a K-8 teacher with a mandate to incorporate CS standards into your curriculum but find yourself without much in the way of professional support, we hope these strategies can help set the stage for your success. If you are already a CS champion in your classroom or school, we hope they will give you more fuel for your passion and resources you can share with others.
First, a word about these strategies. They are all about reducing or mitigating negative impacts from things like implicit bias that are really just a natural part of how our brain works. Also, these strategies are not unique to CS education, but because of the lack of diversity in CS and the technology field overall, they really need to go hand and hand with pedagogical strategies. That makes this work personal and challenging while also being rewarding and impactful.
REDUCE IMPLICIT BIAS
Implicit bias is probably the biggest elephant in the room. It is when our subconscious treats something “expected” as “good”. We make these correlations unconsciously based on schemata that our brains make [9]. For instance, if we are in a room of adults and children, our brain might make a schema that tall people are more mature. That usually works when you are in a room of adults and children, but when you are in a room with just adults and your brain still applies the same schema, that could be a problem. Implicit bias often manifests itself when our brain is busy and overtaxed, or when we are distracted. Our brain looks for patterns to take the load off of what we have to do consciously, but then we are unconsciously thinking, doing, and sometimes even saying things that we do not consciously realize is biased toward someone else [10].
Here’s an example of how implicit bias can impact CS. What if we believe that boys take more risks than girls and that we have to keep girls safe. What if we also believe that CS is risky because it involves lots of experimentation. We might then conclude that boys are better suited for CS. There are several problems with this reasoning. First is the assumption that boys take more risks than girls and that we have to keep girls safe. Second is that CS is risky because it involves experimentation. It is true that CS involves a great deal of experimentation, but it is very low risk because making mistakes is how you learn, and debugging is the normal process of working toward an ultimate solution in CS.
Here’s an example of how implicit bias can impact CS. What if we believe that boys take more risks than girls and that we have to keep girls safe. What if we also believe that CS is risky because it involves lots of experimentation. We might then conclude that boys are better suited for CS. There are several problems with this reasoning. First is the assumption that boys take more risks than girls and that we have to keep girls safe. Second is that CS is risky because it involves experimentation. It is true that CS involves a great deal of experimentation, but it is very low risk because making mistakes is how you learn, and debugging is the normal process of working toward an ultimate solution in CS.