Teachers' intended learning outcomes around computation in high school physics
Daniel P. Weller, Marcos Daniel Caballero, Paul W. Irving · 2020
As an effort to integrate computational thinking into high school science classrooms across Michigan, we administered a year-long professional development series for physics teachers to learn how to program and utilize computer simulations as learning activities in their curricula.Near the end of their first year in the series, N=7 instructors were interviewed to explore their intended learning outcomes, design process, and implementation of computational activities.We conducted a thematic analysis on qualitative interview data to identify major themes from the teacher perspective.Herein, learning outcomes are articulated to investigate the professional development series' effectiveness at helping teachers prepare activities aligned with science standards and their specific aims.Our analysis provides insight regarding the lack of specificity in learning outcomes, the absence of assessment on computational content, and difficulty navigating the space of crosscutting concepts around computation.This research informs the augmentation of computational physics professional development workshops, communicates recommendations for practitioners, and documents teachers' intended learning outcomes when integrating computation in K-12 education spaces.