What is Computer Science Integration?

Computer Science (CS) integration is CodeVA's process of teaching CS skills in conjunction with other academic areas. This approach creates a more equitable CS classroom in two ways:

(1) students understand CS's applicability across the curriculum; and,

(2) by integrating CS into core subject areas in early grades, CS becomes more broadly available and provides increased CS opportunities for minoritized and other underrepresented students.

Read more about CodeVA's CS training programs here.

What is Culturally Relevant Teaching?

Culturally Relevant Teaching (CRT) recognizes that students are shaped by their culture, language and life experiences. CRT practices are methods that teachers use to draw on and from the cultural and racial assets of students, their families and their broader communities.

This project will utilize CRT and develop teachers' CRT skills so that teachers can comfortably and confidently modify lesson plans in a way that are relevant to their own students' identities and lived experiences.

Read more about the why's and how's of CRT here.

What is an "RPP" (or "Research-Practice Partnership")?

In educational research, an RPP is a team of researchers and teacher practitioners who work together to address a shared concern. The RPP's collaborative approach encourages a more equitable solution to educational research and promotes the production and use of evidence-based, practical approaches.

Our RPP consists of 6 current 3rd, 4th and 5th grade teachers, 2 K-5 non-teacher educators and 3 professional researchers from Virginia public and nonprofit institutions.

Read more about the use RPPs here.

Why use an RPP?

Our team is dedicated to instituting active, relevant and equitable change. The structure of our project allows for jointly-conducted research to be tested by practitioners and adapt accordingly.

Read more about the benefits of RPPs here.

What's DBIR?

DBIR, or "Design-Based Implementation Research," is a research and practice approach that is collaborative, iterative, and grounded in systematic inquiry.

By design, DBIR encourages iterative development, which is the foundation for our phased approach to developing our CS Integration Toolkit.

Read more about DBIR here.

What is the CS Integration Toolkit?

The "CS For and By Teachers" Integration Toolkit will include everything a teacher needs to begin integrating CS into their 3rd, 4th and 5th grade classrooms in a way that is standards-aligned, culturally relevant and tested for effectiveness.

Our Toolkit will be made available free of charge during Summer 2024 on Virginia Department of Education's GoOpenVA.

How do I learn more about your project?

As our project gets underway, and we begin to disseminate results, you can follow along on our updates page.

In the meantime, if you'd like to learn more about the resources we're using to build our project, check out our Resource and Exemplar Library here.