Learner Ideas and Interests Expressed in Open-ended Projects in a Middle School Computer Science Curriculum
Jennifer Tsan, David Weintrop, Donna Eatinger, Diana M. Franklin · 2023
Ensuring that computer science curricula connect to learners' home culture, interests, and lived experiences is one approach to making the field more equitable. A central feature of the Scratch Encore Curriculum is to provide many opportunities for learners to plan and implement open-ended programming projects that invite them to draw on their prior knowledge, experiences, and cultural resources. To date, relatively little research has been done to analyze how learners respond to such curricular invitations, specifically with respect to what aspects of themselves and their interests they choose to express in their resulting projects.