ERIC Number: EJ1471894
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025
Pages: 36
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0899 3408
EISSN: EISSN-1744-5175
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Getting Unstuck Together: Creating Personally Authentic Programming Projects in a 4th Grade Classroom
Computer Science Education, v35 n2 p342-377 2025
Background and Context: Learning to create self-directed and personally authentic programming projects involves encountering challenges and learning to get unstuck. Objective: This article investigates how one U.S. fourth-grade classroom engaged in practices which emphasized community supports, in the context of the classroom's implementation and testing of an upper elementary intermediate Scratch curriculum. Method: We engaged in thematic analysis of classroom observations, student and teacher interviews, and student and teacher reflection journals, and student work. Findings: We explore three interaction types: remixing others' projects and ideas, asking for help and helping others, and talking about projects in class. Working on and talking about programming projects enabled learners to develop new understandings of themselves and their peers. Implications: Teachers play a central role in designing structures which encourage the development of students' individual creative capacity and the classroom's sense of community. We offer considerations for designing engaging and collaborative experiences in elementary and intermediate computing education.
Descriptors: Grade 4, Computer Science Education, Instructional Design, Programming, Teaching Methods, Elementary School Students, Teacher Role, Creativity, Authentic Learning, Teacher Attitudes, Computer Software, Curriculum Design, Student Projects, Active Learning, Sense of Community, Social Structure, Persistence
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education; Grade 4; Intermediate Grades
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: 1908110
Author Affiliations: 1Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, USA