This project aims to serve the national need of increasing the number of qualified and licensed computer science teachers. The state of Hawai‘i, a hub for technologically innovation in the Pacific, offers computer science in all public high schools throughout the state. As more elementary, middle, and high school computer science courses are established, an increase is needed in the number of qualified, licensed computer science teachers. The project seeks to provide a framework for licensure in computer science education for college students majoring in computer science or mathematics. The project team will determine critical components needed in a culturally responsive computer science curriculum in a state that has a majority of minority students. With its established online learning infrastructure, the university intends to initially develop a curriculum that can be accessed online or face-to-face, which may increase access to the certificate program by removing the barrier of commuting to the Honolulu-based campus. The project also focuses on building capacity for future recruitment and retention that will allow successful statewide alliances to be scaled up for broader impact.
This project at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, a public teaching and research university, will partner with the Hawai’i Department of Education, the sole school district in the state of Hawai’i. The project goal is to build capacity to provide a pathway for computer science and mathematics majors to obtain licensure to teach computer science in K-12 through developing the infrastructure for a five-course computer science education certificate program. It is the intent of this project to increase content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, culturally sustaining knowledge, and pedagogical practices to align with the K-12 computer science teaching standards. The knowledge gained through this project may guide future research and interventions designed to enhance individual aspirations and capacity of underrepresented groups to pursue computer science teaching. The project includes an advisory board of content experts, education partners, industry partners, teacher education faculty experts, and computer science faculty experts. This Board will evaluate the development of the new teacher preparation program to determine if it is sound in both content and context for Hawai‘i. The resulting curriculum and development process will be shared at local and national education conferences. This Capacity Building project is supported through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (Noyce). The Noyce program supports talented STEM undergraduate majors and professionals to become effective K-12 STEM teachers and experienced, exemplary K-12 teachers to become STEM master teachers in high-need school districts. It also supports research on the persistence, retention, and effectiveness of K-12 STEM teachers in high-need school districts.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
