Champion, Collaborator, Curator, Anchor: Supporting K-12 Teachers to Integrate Computational Thinking

Computational thinking (CT) provides opportunities for students to build the skills they need for everyday life, future academic success, and careers. Increasingly, districts are integrating CT into K-12 disciplinary subjects and a growing number of teachers need the knowledge to lead CT learning opportunities. CT is still nascent in teacher education, however, and not all teachers are receiving professional learning on the job. Teachers need effective methods of support to ensure they are providing students with high quality CT learning opportunities. We present methods of support for integrating CT into schools. The poster highlights four methods to support teacher professional learning: allowing ample time for collaboration, a school-based advocate championing CT integration, posting and promoting curated resources, and a foundational person anchoring the work as the initiative expands. In doing so, this poster provides interrelated examples of teacher support and highlights methods of continuous support for teachers integrating CT across content areas.