Sixteenth International Conference on Technology, Knowledge & Society

Abstract

Despite the growing call to increase students’ exposure to computer science (CS) education throughout K-12 schooling, many current initiatives reduce CS to canned programming activities that are largely divorced from what is personally interesting and important to students. It should come as no surprise that this is causing students (particularly those traditionally underrepresented in CS) to leave computing pathways, as it reinforces the idea that CS is not for “people like them” and is not something they will need in their lives and careers. Some of this can be attributed to traditional CS classrooms, with students locked to desktop computers in a computer lab. In contrast, the introduction of mobile technologies (especially smartphones) has allowed CS education to move out of the classroom and into learners’ everyday lives. Giving students the ability to take the products they create into their lived lives allows students and educators to move beyond simply writing code, towards critically asking why and for whom they are building it, and to what end. In response, this paper advocates for a Computational Action approach to CS education, which focuses on three key factors: 1) Computational identity, 2) Digital empowerment, and 3) Computational design thinking. Through the investigation of a curriculum implemented at a large urban high school in the Northeastern U.S., we show how Computational Action enables students to develop solutions to personally relevant issues and develop their identities and interests in computer science.