Research

STEM education faces two related challenges. First, our education system is not producing enough computational professionals to fill demand. Second, women and minorities remain significantly underrepresented. We are conducting a Design-Based Implementation Research project to study a model in which computational literacy curricula are embedded throughout required biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics coursework. This would ensure that every high school student is exposed to computational literacy activities in a context that demonstrates its relevance to real world career paths. We are interested how such curriculum affects student and teachers’ attitudes, identity, and learning. We are also working to understand individual and institutional factors that affect the success of this model in resource-constrained public schools.

Publications

CT-Integration

Beheshti, E., Weintrop, D., Orton, K., Horn, M. S., Jona, K., Trouille, L., Wilensky, U. (2015). Bringing Expert Computational Practices into High School Science Classrooms. NARST Annual International Conference,

Orton, K., Weintrop, D., Beheshti, E., Horn, M. S., Jona, K., & Wilensky, U. (2016). Bringing Computational Thinking into High School Mathematics and Science Classrooms. Proceedings of the International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS), 706-712

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Dabholkar, S. & Wilensky, U. (2019). Designing ESM-mediated collaborative activity systems for science learning.. Proceedings from International Conference of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning 2019, Lyon, France.,

Swanson, H., Anton, G., Bain, C., Horn, M., & Wilensky, U. (2019). Introducing and Assessing Computational Thinking in the Secondary Science Classroom. Computational Thinking Education, Springer, Singapore., 99-117

Teachers

Wilensky, U., Brady, C. E., & Horn, M. S. (2014). Fostering computational literacy in science classrooms. Communications of the ACM, 57(8), 24-28

Students

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Methodology

C Pei, D Weintrop, U Wilensky (2018). Cultivating Computational Thinking Practices and Mathematical Habits of Mind in Lattice Land.. Mathematical Thinking and Learning,

Other Useful CT Publications

Tools, Software, & Curricula

  • NetLogo, Northwestern CCL Lab's multi-agent programming environment. Lessons in biology, genetics, physics, chemistry, etc.
  • iLab, Northwestern's access to real physics, chemistry, and biology labs through the internet
  • Concord Consortium, CT lesson plans and simulation environments for topics across STEM
  • Molecular Workbench, by concord consortium
  • The King's Centre for Visualization in Science has a lot of high-quality applets covering many areas of science.
  • PHET, has lots of high-quality applets covering many areas of science
  • Data Discovery Lessons: using real-world data and computer-based technology, such as spreadsheets and Python programs, students learn how to gather, organize, analyze and interpret data; Python lessons guide students in computational thinking. Lessons provide teachers and students with instructions and guidance in using these technologies.
  • MERLOT, repository for STEM lesson plans, applets, resources, etc.
  • Connected Chemistry
  • CSunplugged.org
  • NSF STEM Education Data Resources

Videos