Developing Computational Thinking Literacy in Teacher Education
Abstract: Introducing Computational Thinking (CT) to all teacher education candidates is becoming a necessity. The professional development necessary for teacher candidates to develop such skills to teach CT has typically been left out of teacher preparation programs. This paper reflects the work of three researchers at three institutions who have done significant work to develop computational thinking literacy in their teacher education programs: one focuses on a course “Computer Science for Teachers,” which was taught through a specially built social networking platform; the second focuses on the development of computational thinking skills and literacy for teachers attending a women’s college; the last discusses the development and implementation of a robotics curriculum for an independent school.These case studies provide some best practices and models for the development of these types of skills and literacies in teachers, teacher candidates, and teacher education programs.
Presider: Jane Hunter, University of Technology Sydney, Australia