- Year 2024
- NSF Noyce Award # 2150905
- First Name Shannon
- Last Name Campe
- Registration Faculty/Administrator/Other
- Discipline Computer Science
- Role Principal Investigator (PI)
- Presenters
Shannon Campe (ETR)
Need
There is an increasing demand for K-12 STEM teachers, including computer science (CS) teachers, who are prepared to engage students from underrepresented groups, many of whom are in high-need schools. Retention of STEM teachers is particularly low in these schools and others. This study looks at how Noyce Track 1 and other teacher preparation programs can increase CS teacher retention in high-need schools and prepare teachers to deliver effective, equitable CS instruction. The goal is to generate information that can be used to increase the longer-term retention of CS teachers in high-need schools as well as identify the features of programs that prepare teachers to deliver effective, equitable CS stand-alone or integrated instruction. A design-based research approach is being used to iteratively apply the results to three Noyce Scholars programs to increase CS teacher retention and effectiveness.
Research Questions
The research questions guiding this study are: 1. How can teacher preparation programs increase the retention of CS teachers in high-need schools? A. What individual-level factors play a role (e.g., beliefs, knowledge, confidence)? B. What interpersonal factors play a role (e.g., coaching, mentoring, community of teachers)? C. What institutional factors at the school and within the preparation program play a role (administrator support, financial resources/supplies, course content)? 2. How can teacher preparation programs prepare teachers to deliver effective and equitable computer science education in middle and high school? A. What are the different ways that pre-service teacher preparation programs train teachers on CS and social justice content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge? B. To what extent does the training help teachers deliver effective and equitable CS education?
Approach
The research is guided by socio-ecological and social justice pedagogical content knowledge theoretical frameworks. The study involves pre-service teachers who are being trained to teach CS in middle and high schools. Mixed methods are used to collect survey, interview, observation and institutional data over time. The data will be analyzed, using an inductive case study approach, to describe teachers’ development of CS knowledge and social justice pedagogy, their experience as a student teacher and a novice lead teacher, their community of support, their identity as a CS teacher, as well as features of the preparation program and school sites. An initial conjecture map documents research-based hypotheses about how to prepare teachers to persist and engage in effective CS instruction. The team will use the data to refine the conjecture map and make changes at the program level.
Outcomes
For the first 2 years of this Track 4 Research grant, activities have focused on: continuing to build relationships within the team throughout staffing changes, creating and modifying participant and faculty instruments to measure the above-mentioned constructs, recruiting and training research assistants at each university and recruiting and collecting data from Noyce Track 1 and non-Noyce CS pre-service teachers. Recruitment for the study is low due to challenges the university programs are facing around their own Track 1 recruitment, but we have enrolled 11 participants at the three partners sites and two participants from another non-Noyce pre-service CS teacher preparation university program. We have collected survey and interview data at different points based on participants’ progression through their respective program and entry point into the study. We have collected relevant course syllabi and conducted interviews with all associated faculty at the three partner sites and are currently analyzing the interviews to provide context to the participants’ experience and contribute to case studies. Findings show great variances in how these programs train and support teachers in becoming CS teachers. Findings from preliminary analysis of Noyce scholar participant interviews include: they vary in how they acquire their CS experience, they are not teaching CS after their preparation programs, they are not prepared if given the opportunity to teach CS and some view computer science knowledge and the teaching of computer science differently. Our findings will inform revisions to our conjecture map and be fed back to participating sites to support programmatic improvements to support the training and retention of teachers in high-need schools. In Year 3 we will continue with recruiting new participants and collecting preparation phase data as well as working with our previous cohorts of participants to collect data during their induction years teaching in their own classrooms at a high-need school. Additional course data will be collected and faculty interviews conducted based on university program changes. We will continue our cycle of analysis, triangulating the varied data sources, to build out stronger case studies of each participant as well as those clustered within each university in addition to working with partner sites on how best to provide data that can inform revisions to their programs.
Broader Impacts
Access to CS education is disproportionately distributed across public schools. High-need schools have greater numbers of students from groups that are underrepresented in computing fields; they are also more likely to have teacher turnover and less likely to have experienced teachers and CS opportunities. But little is known about the different ways that equity and inclusion are conceptualized and operationalized in teacher preparation programs, including those for Noyce scholars from different STEM disciplines. This study involves a multidisciplinary team of investigators who are positioned to identify strategies that prepare teachers to create equitable and inclusive CS classes for students in these schools. It will also identify strategies for training and support in teacher preparation programs that can increase teacher retention. The geographic dispersion of the teacher preparation programs across both rural and urban areas will increase the likelihood that the results will be relevant to a range of populations and settings.
