Computational Thinking Integration as Trojan Horse for Teachers’ Rethinking Science and Mathematics Teaching and Learning

Abstract

Mathematics and science teacher educators have worked to help current and pre-service teachers understand “computational thinking” (CT) and integrate it into their lessons. This structured poster session highlights an unexpected phenomenon we have observed across multiple contexts: teacher education efforts aimed at CT integration didn’t achieve their stated goals but somehow led teachers to rethink what counts as good mathematics/science inquiry and learning. We don’t have a well-supported explanation for this phenomenon. The session aims to bring together scholars who study CT, CT integration, and STEM teacher education—the presenters and the session attendees—to explore the nature of this unexpected phenomena and brainstorm potential explanations to explore in future research.