Share Paper: Introducing Coding into Teacher Education: An Interdisciplinary Robotics Experience for Education and Engineering Students

  1. Jennifer Kidd, Old Dominion University, United States
  2. Krishna Kaipa, Old Dominion University, United States
  3. Sam Sacks, Norfolk Public Schools, United States
  4. Lilian Maria de Souza Almeida, Old Dominion University, United States
Wednesday, April 8 3:15-3:30 PM Room 5 - https://tinyurl.com/room5site

Abstract: Despite nationwide mandates to integrate computer science into P-6 curriculum, most P-6 preservice teachers (PSTs) are not exposed to coding or computational thinking during their professional preparation, and are unprepared to teach these topics. This study, conducted as a part of an NSF-funded project, explores a teacher preparation model designed to increase PSTs’ coding knowledge and coding self-efficacy. PSTs in an educational technology course partnered with engineering undergraduates (EUs) in a computational methods course and worked side-by-side on robotics activities to develop skill and confidence with basic programming concepts and block coding. Students utilized experience gained from these interdisciplinary partnerships ...