“The world will benefit significantly from talents such as empathy, emotional intensity, certitude, sensitivity, ability to detect details, depth of thought, will to embrace, and many other things that we need in a time where alienation, coldness, superficiality, and emotional hardness are predominating.”
― Jenara Nerenberg, Divergent Mind: Thriving in a World That Wasn't Designed for You
Our goal in this work was to work with a team of special educators, math teachers, school administrators, and computational thinking educators to build a foundational understanding of the strengths of neurodiverse learners, computational thinking components and dispositions, and mathematical practices. This foundational understanding would be used to define and identify intersections of the three and anticipate barriers in utilizing the intersections to inform teaching practice.
A sample of our school-based professionals comprising special educators, administrators, and computer science teachers found that Teacher Practice, Abstraction, and Persistence were where all three categories intersected most frequently.
Throughout this ECCR, we'll try to be explicit regarding where teacher practice, abstraction, and persistence are present as practices. Additionally, decomposition, pattern recognition, and creativity are other areas where the strengths of NDLs, Math, and CT intersect.
The top three identified barriers to integrating CT were identified as understanding/knowledge of CT concepts and practices, generating buy-in from all involved, and the constraints and framing placed around student learning through the IEP deficits-centered goals/mandates.
Teachers identified a need for increased professional development around CT integration and concepts, assistance in linking external resources to the requirements of their standard, more time to learn from others, and individualized support and a resource bank from which to pull resources.