Finding Abstraction-Comprehension Balance: A Study of Model-Based Integrated Science and Computational Thinking Application
Published in American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, 2017
Recommended citation: Gautam, A., Wall Bortz, W., Tatar, D., Lipscomb, K., Rivale, S., Orsino, C. & Etzkorn, F. (2017). Finding Abstraction-Comprehension Balance: A Study of Model-Based Integrated Science and Computational Thinking Application. American Educational Research Association (AERA'17). http://aakash.xyz/files/aera2017.pdf
Computational thinking (CT) has received considerable attention over the past decade among educators and researchers. However, given the multiple goals of the educational system, and already demanding school curriculum, there is limited scope for adding computational thinking as a separate subject in schools. This project integrates CT and Chemistry in activities for middle school. By “activity”, we mean a NetLogo-based Chemistry environment which uses both the simulation and the structure of the underlying code model as resources for teaching, along with chemistry and computational thinking curriculum materials, and teacher professional development. This paper discusses tensions between different concerns in the design process. We hope that our finding will illuminate some issues in designing an integrated activity and inform future research.