Bringing computer science education research to K-8 classrooms
Join Once Upon a Tech co-host Kim Wilkens as she explores CS education research and helps translate how it can inform CS education in the classroom today. Kim is currently an EdD student studying curriculum and instruction with a focus on innovation and computer science education in the School of Education at the University of Virginia. During this series, Kim takes a deep dive into a variety of CS education-related research papers by interviewing the authors to discover the big takeaways for future research and for K-8 teachers and administrators right now.

Take a listen to the podcast episodes and/or click on the resource links to read more!

Season 2
Episode 11: Exploring elementary students’ understanding of CS concepts with Feiya Luo and Wei Yan

In this episode, I take a deep dive into exploring elementary students’ understanding of computer science and computational thinking concepts with Feiya Luo and Wei Yan. Feiya is an Assistant Professor in Instructional Technology at the University of Alabama and Wei is a Ph.D. candidate from the University of Florida, majoring in Educational Technology.
Episode 10: Confronting racism in CS through community, criticality, and citizenship with Aman Yadav

In this episode, I take a deep dive into the paper, Breaking the Code: Confronting Racism in Computer Science through Community, Criticality, and Citizenship with Aman Yadav. He is a Professor in the College of Education and the College of Natural Science at Michigan State University. Aman’s teaching and research focuses on computational thinking, computer science education, and problem-based learning.
Episode 9: Using art to explore emotion, problem solving and identity in CS with Maggie Dahn

In this episode, I take a deep dive into the paper, Dynamics of emotion, problem solving, and identity: Portraits of three girl coders with Maggie Dahn. She is an Associate Project Scientist at the University of California, Irvine working with the Connected Learning Lab and Creativity Labs. Maggie has a background in visual arts and engages in design research to study how people learn in different contexts and the affordances of art making for the development of voice and identity and issues of access and equity.
Episode 8: CS and CT in preservice education and in the classroom with Anne Leftwich

In this episode, I take a deep dive into a report on the state of CS in preservice education programs and a special issue from ACM highlighting a variety of research on CT in preK-5 with Anne Leftwich. She is a Professor and Interim Chair of Instructional Systems Technology within the School of Education and an Adjunct Professor of Computer Science and the Barbara B. Jacobs Chair in Education and Technology at Indiana University – Bloomington.

Season 1
Episode 1: Anatomy of a research paper with Jennie Chiu

Because this series is all about taking a deeper dive into current K-8 CS education research, I thought it would be good to spend the first episode of the podcast looking at the anatomy of a research paper with my advisor, Dr. Jennifer Chiu. Jennie is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at the University of Virginia. I know when I was a teacher, I often found reading research papers intimidating because there were a lot of concepts and terminology that I did not understand. Hopefully this episode will break down some of those barriers.
Episode 2: Continuous CS professional development with Jared O’Leary

In this episode, I take a deep dive into the paper Measuring the effect of continuous professional development on elementary teachers’ self-efficacy to teach coding and computational thinking with one it’s authors Jared O’Leary. Jared is the Director of Education and Research at BootUp. BootUp is a non-profit that provides professional development (PD) to K-8 educators at a district level. They take a continuous PD approach which means their goal is to work with teachers several times throughout the year, over a 2-3 year span.
Episode 3: Supporting diverse learners in K-8 computational thinking with Jean Salac

In this episode, I take a deep dive into two papers: TIPP&SEE: A Learning Strategy to Guide Students through Use–>Modify Scratch Activities and Supporting Diverse Learners in K-8 Computational Thinking with TIPP&SEE with Jean Salac. Jean is a Computer Science PhD candidate and NSF Graduate Fellow at the University of Chicago's CANON Lab working with Professor Diana Franklin. She has a passion for CS instruction that is accessible and effective for people from under-served communities, making computing accessible for everyone and closing the digital divide.
Episode 4: Elementary and middle school as a path to future CS with Michelle Friend

In this episode, I take a deep dive into two papers: Middle school girls’ envisioned future in computing and Bricklayer: Elementary Students Learn Math through Programming and Art with Michelle Friend. She is an Assistant Professor of Teacher Education at the University of Nebraska Omaha. I first met Michelle through the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) where she is a founding and current board member.
Episode 5: From researcher to edtech entrepreneur with Tom Lauwers

In this episode I take a deep dive into two papers: Robot Diaries: Broadening Participation in the Computer Science Pipeline through Social Technical Exploration and Designing the Finch: Creating a Robot Aligned to Computer Science Concepts with Tom Lauwers. He is the founder and CEO of Birdbrain Technologies. The papers we discuss in this episode are the first steps on his entrepreneurship journey as they show the initial research for the Hummingbird Robotics Kit and the Finch Robot.
Episode 6: Equitable CS teaching strategies with Luther Tychonievich

In this episode, I take a deep dive into two papers: Tapestry Workshops: Helping High School Teachers Grow and Diversify Computing and Lessons Learned from Providing Hundreds of Hours of Diversity Training with Luther Tychonievich. He is an Associate Professor of CS at the University of Virginia. I first met Luther when he got involved with the CS Institute in 2019, helping us bring the equitable CS teaching strategies he talks about in this episode to K-8 teachers.
Episode 7: Formative Assessment in K-8 CS with Shuchi Grover

In this episode, I take a deep dive into two papers: Designing an Assessment for Introductory Programming Concepts in Middle School Computer Science (2020) and Assessing Algorithmic & Computational Thinking in K-12: Lessons from a Middle School Classroom (2017) with Shuchi Grover. She is a learning scientist and computer science and STEM education researcher. Shuchi's research is primarily centered on computational thinking, CS education, and STEM learning in the PK-14 years with a focus on the design of curriculum, assessments, tools, and environments.
Music credit: Pamgaea by Kevin MacLeod