Computational thinking is an important set of 21st century knowledge and skills that has implications for the heavily technological world in which we live. Multiple industries indicate the under supply of those trained to be effective in the computer science workforce. In addition, there are increasing demands for broadening the participation in the computer science workforce by women and members of minority populations. SRI International will examine the relationships among the factors that influence the implementation of the Exploring Computer Science (ECS), a pre-Advanced Placement curriculum that prepares students for further study in computer science. SRI will work in partnership with the ECS curriculum developers, teachers, and the nonprofit Code.org who are involved in the scaling of ECS. This study elucidates how variation in curricular implementation influences student learning and determines not only what works, but also for whom and under what circumstances.
SRI will conduct a pilot study in which they develop, pilot, and refine measures as they recruit school districts for the implementation study. The subsequent implementation study will be a 2 year examination of curriculum enactment, teacher practice, and evidence of student learning. Because no comparable curriculum currently exists, the study will examine the conditions needed to implement the ECS curriculum in ways that improve student computational thinking outcomes rather than determine whether the ECS curriculum is more effective than other CS-related curricula. The study will conduct two kinds of analyses: 1) an analysis of the influence of ECS on student learning gains, and 2) an analysis of the relationship between classroom-level implementation and student learning gains. Because of the clustered nature of the data (students nested within classrooms nested within schools), the project will use hierarchical linear modeling to examine the influence of the curriculum.
