From Theory to Practice: Developing Social Studies Teachers’ Capacity for Computer Science Integration by Riding the Semantic Wave

Goals of the Professional Development

The following reflect the general goals of the professional development for this project determined by the PI team created through an iterative process:

• Teachers are able to design and enact integrated social studies and computer science lessons to the appropriate depth and scope of the target Virginia Standards of Learning (CS and social studies) for their grade band.

• Teachers are able to confidently model and explain all aspects of integrated CS and social studies lessons (including important CS concepts and skills) that meet the needs of their students.

• Teachers are able to formatively assess students' performance and understanding of computer science and social studies concepts, articulating students' needs and confidently enacting strategies for differentiating their supports based on students' needs.

Research Discoveries from Pilot Year

The preliminary research after the first pilot year produced several high-level needs concerning the design of the CS for Social Studies professional development. These failures highlighted the discrepancies between the assumed needs and actual needs of the pilot participants as they learned more about computer science integration within a social studies context. The items below were discovered through observation of the live training sessions, collected participant-completed materials, Facilitator-Coach notes and reflections, participant surveys, and participant interviews.

Changes to make from data pertaining to integration

• Participants demonstrated the need for more scaffolding supporting the method of integration. Many participants still held a vague idea of how computer science integration could be implemented in the context of their social studies classroom.

• Participant pairs felt they did not have enough time to work with each other and reflect on their design and/or implementation of integrated lessons.

• More support is needed in the academic-year session curriculum design that provides integrated lesson workshops and support throughout the year.

• Participants desired more opportunities to learn what a successfully integrated lesson looks like within the context of the grant.

Changes to make from data about content-related feedback

• Participants found the prospect of teaching Python simultaneously with social studies content to middle school students too large of a barrier. A new programming tools is needed that provides a low floor yet retains a high ceiling for continued skill advancement.

• The professional development provided was too wide of a focus for participants to learn computer science content deeply. Learning about all six strands from the Computer Science Standards of Learning was too broad of an approach.

• Participants need multiple skill-level entry points in the use of the programming tool.

Changes to make from data about facilitation

• The pilot-year Facilitator-Coaches did not have experience teaching at the middle school level, and coaching expectations were largely undefined, leading to the practice of coaching being largely ignored.

• More feedback is desired about lessons that have been created and implemented by participants.

Theory: Examination of the Semantic Wave

The visual depiction of a semantic wave follows the learning pathway of a student as they make meaning of learning by both abstract and concrete qualities as well as simple and technical meanings. The idea of a semantic wave-shaped learning experience comes from a larger social-based theory of academic practice called Legitimation Code Theory.

A Conceptual Journey

The semantic wave imagery captures the trajectory of a learner as they are successfully led from a technical and largely inaccessible starting point through mechanisms for unpacking knowledge in discrete and consumable chunks by an expert teacher. The learner then repacks the knowledge they experience through concrete examples and activities into personal knowledge paradigms and contexts.

Unpacking using Metaphors and Unplugged Activities

When descending into the 'unpacking' part of the wave, the teacher creates simpler ways of understanding concepts or notions behind the technical terms of the abstract concept. This learning area is ideal for introducing metaphors and unplugged activities that remove the burden of technical jargon. From this position, a teacher can relate the new content to types of behaviors, topics, or characteristics of other ideas (metaphors) or games and mental models (unplugged activities). In this way, the learner can experience the new topic from a related knowledge they are already familiar with. The 'unpacking' stage of the semantic wave is demonstrated in the classic example of understanding variables by thinking of them as boxes. However, a student should not remain in this lower state of semantic density for too long, or they may miss the opportunity to use a variable in a context that has practical meaning.

Repacking by Formalizing New Knowledge in Context

As the student moves from the metaphoric and into practice at the bottom of the wave, the teacher creates opportunities for the student to apply what they have learned in small, controlled environments. This gives the instructor moments for formative assessment and moves the student towards repacking what they have learned into a more concrete example. Eventually, the short segment examples of the activities are replaced by real contextualized problems for the student to solve.

Practice: Reimagining Professional Development

The Opportunity to Reformat

The results from the initial pilot year provided plentiful information about how the professional development could change for the second iteration. The PI team decided to extend the pilot for an extra year based on the uncharacteristically low participation numbers and the feedback and observations about the pilot year. This decision gave the curriculum team a unique opportunity to reimagine the professional development course and corresponding sessions for a new cohort of participants to join the remaining original teacher pairs.

Mapping the Professional Learning

Since the curriculum-focused feedback pointed towards a more intentional unpacking of what it means to integrate computer science, the curriculum team decided that mapping the model of the professional development on the semantic wave would be an appropriate solution. This approach works particularly well since participant-learners would be repacking what they had learned within the unique contexts of their own classroom as an exercise of meaning-making. Participants would then teach their adapted lesson and reflect on the experience of first learning and then teaching the concepts related to the computer science activity.

While this session only deals with using the semantic wave for teaching and learning about computer science content integration, other topics addressed through this grant are being approached using the same methodology. The repetitive nature of the coaching cycle used for reflecting and improving integrated lesson implementation in this grant engages learners with four distinct opportunities to experience the semantic wave.

Mapped Professional Development Activities

Abstract Concept

The participant learns a new programming skill that they will be implementing with their students through an integrated lesson. The concept is as new to them as it will be to the student.

Unpacking

The concept is experienced as an unplugged activity or explained using concepts from other domains as a metaphor.

Application through Activity

The participant is given the opportunity to practice the skill through a model lesson taught by the facilitator-coach. The participant is specifically instructed to perceive the lesson as if they are a student in a middle school social studies class.

Repacking

The participant reflects on their experience as a student learning a new concept and makes adaptations to the lesson to fit the context of their own classroom. The teacher has an opportunity to create their own metaphor or unplugged activity if they have one. The teacher also substitutes the social studies content to fit their classroom's pacing guide appropriately.

Application in Context

The teacher participant implements the lesson that they designed and reflects on the experience. The new concept is now learned, as well as taught, by the participating teacher.

Citations

Curzon, P., McOwan, P. W., Donohue, J., Wright, S. & Mars, D. W. (2018) Teaching of concepts. In: Sentance, S., Barendsen, E. & Schulte, C. (eds.) Computer Science Education: Perspectives on Teaching and Learning in School. London, Bloomsbury Publishing, pp. 91–108.

Curzon, P. (2019) Tip 9: Follow Semantic Waves — Learning To Learn (To Program). Available from: https://teachinglondoncomputing.org/learning-to-learn-to-program [an informal blog about practical ideas for teaching programming].

Maton, K. (2013) Making semantic waves: A key to cumulative knowledge-building. Linguistics and Education. 24(1), 8–22.

Maton, K. (2019) Semantic waves: Context, complexity and academic discourse. In: Martin, J. R., Maton, K. & Doran, Y. J. (eds) Accessing Academic Discourse: Systemic Functional Linguistics and Legitimation Code Theory. London, Routledge, pp. 59–85.

Waite, J., Maton, K., Curzon, P. & Tuttiett, L. (2019) Unplugged Computing and Semantic Waves: Analysing Crazy Characters. In: UKICER: Proceedings of the 1st UK & Ireland Computing Education Research Conference. New York, Association for Computing Machinery. Available from: doi.org/10.1145/3351287.3351291.