Computing in the Everyday: Engaging Teachers and Learners in Authentic and Personal Data Interactions

Broadening participation in computer science education requires teacher support and training, wherein we can co-construct expansive learning opportunities for youth. Computer science and data science education are expanding across K-12 classrooms in authentic and meaningful ways, which necessitates support for teachers and learners to engage technical, social, and conceptual challenges. Specifically, I explore a fifth grade computer science class, wherein youth learn about the data science process by collecting their own movement data through a variety of sports technologies. I investigate the interactions of both groups with data to identify techniques to increase learner engagement and address teacher concerns. For teachers, what scaffolds are needed for them to implement authentic and personal data interactions? For students, how does the context of the data and its personal relevance to them shape their learning about the data science process? Unique to this design are the computer science undergraduate student volunteers, who support the teaching and learning of the materials in classrooms. Volunteers mediate the technical and learning processes that allow for open-ended and contextualized data interactions in the classroom with new teachers. With a mix of survey, interview, and field note data, I analyze teacher and learner interactions across the 8 week unit. By studying this learning environment, we can identify strategies for teachers to engage in authentic data science education, and we can learn about youth's understanding of their choice and interpretation within their personal data interactions to shape the future of computer science and data science education.