In this interview with Joyce McCall, we unpack and problematize some of the issues around race and racism in relation to education. In particular, we discuss the importance of allies not only showing up to support marginalized or oppressed groups, but staying when conversations get uncomfortable; the Shire from the Lord of the Rings as a metaphor for hegemony and systemic racism; as well as a variety of theories such as critical race theory, double consciousness, cultural capital; and much more.

Click here for this episode’s show notes.

How to Get Started with Computer Science Education

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00:00 Intro

01:16 Joyce introducing herself

04:46 An experience in education that continues to impact Joyce

11:47 How Joyce's research has informed her own practices in education

14:42 Schools are designed to oppress

21:18 What is critical race theory in education?

24:49 Helping educators understand what CRT is in education

28:52 What is double consciousness in education?

30:12 How double consciousness relates to cultural capital

37:16 What educators can do to learn more about double consciousness

39:50 The danger of conversations turning to violence

44:56 How educators can become better allies

52:58 Scholars that Joyce recommends learning from

55:37 The Shire as metaphor for systemic racism

59:49 What Joyce wishes there was more research on

01:07:14 How Joyce prevents burnout

01:14:41 How to connect with Joyce

01:15:38 Outro

In this episode I unpack Washington's (2020) paper titled "When twice as good isn't enough: The case for cultural competence in computing," which explores the five elements and six stages of cultural competence in relation to undergraduate computing programs.

Click here for this episode’s show notes.

How to Get Started with Computer Science Education

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00:00 Intro

00:50 Abstract

02:13 My single sentence summary

02:37 Paper introduction

04:04 What is cultural competence?

11:34 Six stages of cultural competence

16:09 What does this have to do with computer science education?

19:50 Race, gender, and computing

21:12 Lingering questions and thoughts

21:27 How might K-12 CS educators adapt the structure of the “Race, Gender, and Computing” course?

23:42 How do the enrollment demographics for 2020 CS programs differ from a few years ago?

24:24 Outro

In this interview with Shuchi Grover, we discuss the importance of having a variety of assessments in a CS class, why we need more research on computational thinking, why educators and scholars should read literature outside of the field, Shuchi’s new book titled “Computer Science in K-12: An A-To-Z Handbook on Teaching Programming,” and much more.

Click here for this episode’s show notes.

How to Get Started with Computer Science Education

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00:00 Intro

00:45 An introduction by Shuchi

06:50 An experience in education that continues to impact Shuchi

09:40 Something about Shuchi's research that has surprised her

14:21 A place for multiple assessment types in a classroom

18:30 Assessments demonstrate what is valued in a class

23:06 How to include multiple forms of assessment

24:44 The elevator pitch for Shuchi's book

27:24 What are the main ideas in the book?

30:49 What Shuchi has learned working on her book

32:06 What Shuchi wishes more administrators and educators understood about CS

35:59 Informal learning and CS

38:26 How Shuchi prevents burnout

41:15 What Shuchi wishes there was more research on

47:03 The intersection of data analysis and language

48:07 The disconnect between higher education and CS pedagogies

54:24 Problematic discourse around CS + CT

57:17 How to connect with Shuchi

57:50 Outro

In this episode I unpack Ladson-Billings’ (1995) seminal publication titled “Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy,” which influenced much of the discourse around culturally relevant pedagogy in computer science education.

Click here for this episode’s show notes.

How to Get Started with Computer Science Education

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00:00 Intro

01:28 Abstract

02:22 Questions that guide this paper

02:55 My single sentence summary

03:43 Teaching and culture

05:54 The illusion of atheoretical inquiry

11:15 Three main areas of culturally relevant pedagogy

14:26 Examples that critique the existing social order

16:58 Culturally relevant pedagogies that teachers used

26:06 What can we as CS educators do to continue to learn more about CRP and incorporate it into our practices?

26:53 Outro

In this interview with Laurie “Mrs. Geeky” Green, we discuss advice for novice and veteran computer science educators who are integrating CS and technology in a variety of subject areas, what an engaging integration experience looks like, the importance of finding platforms and approaches that work for you and the kids you work with, helping administrators and educators understand what computer science is (and how it’s different than computational thinking), suggestions for integrating in online and virtual spaces, and much more.

Click here for this episode’s show notes.

How to Get Started with Computer Science Education

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00:00 Intro

01:05 An introduction by Laurie

01:24 How Laurie became known as "Mrs. Geeky"

02:15 How Laurie got into CS education

06:53 An experience in education that continues to impact Laurie

08:29 Something Laurie used to believe in education that she no longer believes

10:31 What does an ideal integration classroom look like?

11:13 What classes does Laurie recommend when integrating with CS?

13:11 What's an engaging way to integrate?

15:28 How Laurie's experiences in education informed her previous answer

18:35 Advice for educators who are new to integrating

22:17 Advice for experienced CS educators

26:46 How to help people understand what CS education looks like

31:26 How to help people understand the difference between CS and CT

33:21 Advice for teaching online

36:27 How Laurie continues to iterate on her abilities as an educator

37:38 How Laurie prevents burnout

39:09 Recommendations for improving equity and inclusion in CS

41:29 What Laurie wishes there was more research on

43:02 How I got into the intersections of music and CS

45:56 Laurie's future chapters in a book

46:57 How to connect with Laurie

47:25 Outro

In this episode I unpack the chapter titled “Equity in Computer Science Education” from the K-12 Computer Science Framework (2016). This chapter discusses how equity issues influenced the development of the framework, which was used to develop CSTA’s national CS standards and many state CS standards.

Click here for this episode’s show notes.

How to Get Started with Computer Science Education

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00:00 Intro

02:08 Summary

02:34 Introduction

03:52 The need to address equity in computer science

05:47 Equity and the framework

08:33 Examples of equity

08:52 Efforts to increase access and opportunity

14:32 Lingering questions and thoughts

14:36 How might this document change if it were written today?

15:31 With the current discussions around anti-racist practices in education, what do other CS educators want to learn more about that isn't discussed in this document?

18:08 Outro

In this interview with Stacie Mason and Peter Rich, we discuss recommendations for introducing and integrating computational thinking in the classroom, the importance of contextualizing computational thinking within coding practices, peer and family influence on learning to code and to think computationally, lessons learned by researching coding and computational thinking, our perspectives on whether computer science and coding should be a mandatory subject, and much more.

Click here for this episode’s show notes.

How to Get Started with Computer Science Education

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00:00 Intro

01:06 An introduction by Stacie and Peter

01:42 How Peter and Stacie got into CS education

10:14 Something they believed when they first started teaching that they no longer believe

14:04 Advice for integrating computational thinking in the classroom

21:29 How their backgrounds informs their approach to teaching computational thinking

24:40 How their research has impacted their understandings of education

31:08 What surprises have they had with their own research?

35:05 Misconceptions other educators have

37:41 What they wish there was more research on

40:55 How they try to prevent burnout

44:18 How they try to improve their craft as educators

46:08 Questions for the field

55:23 Advice for teachers

58:08 How to connect with Peter and Stacie

58:45 Outro

Rather than listen to this week’s planned unpacking scholarship episode, please take the time to learn from the anti-racism resources in the show notes, then share and respectfully discuss them with others.

Click here for this episode’s show notes.

How to Get Started with Computer Science Education

In this interview with Brenda Bass, we discuss advice for educators interested in getting started with robotics or physical computing, considering equity and access with robots and physical computing devices, how to learn more about robotics and CS without a background in either area, and much more.

Click here for this episode’s show notes.

How to Get Started with Computer Science Education

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00:00 Intro

00:45 An introduction by Brenda

01:30 Lessons learned through Brenda's journey in CS education

06:01 A story related to education that continues to impact Brenda

07:25 What Brenda wished she knew when she first started teaching coding

08:09 Something that Brenda excels at in education

10:11 How Brenda developed expertise in coding

13:53 What more educators should understand about getting into robotics and physical computing

15:07 What an ideal program would look like

16:38 How to create an equitable robotics team

18:14 How to get started with a robotics program

19:55 Recommendations for starting a CS program

20:39 How Brenda iterates on her own abilities as an educator

21:15 How Brenda tries to prevent burnout

22:44 Thoughts on CS certification

23:32 What Brenda wishes there was more research on

24:50 What's the one device I would recommend a district purchase?

26:54 How this podcast could better serve the community

27:31 How to connect with Brenda

27:44 Outro

In this episode I unpack Graves and DeLyser’s (2017) article titled “Interested In Class, But Not In The Hallway: A Latent Class Analysis (LCA) of 2015-16 CS4All Student Surveys,” which highlights that although many of the 1,525 survey respondents expressed an interest in computer science in the classroom settings, they did not choose to engage in CS outside of the classroom.

Click here for this episode’s show notes.

How to Get Started with Computer Science Education

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00:00 Intro

00:45 Abstract

01:53 My one sentence summary

02:08 Introduction

03:07 Literature review

07:58 The question that guides this study

09:16 Methods

10:16 Results

14:16 Why are some students interested in content in the classroom are not interested in continuing their learning outside of the classroom?

17:10 Outro