Published in ConnectED Newsletter - Volume 6 - Issue 1 - August 2022
In May 2022, Professors Gary Benenson, Carolee Bongiorno, David Crismond, Laura Gellert, and Jody Hilton started work as the CCNY Computing Integrated Teacher Education (CITE) team. CITE, a $17 million, four-year initiative that CUNY began piloting last summer, aims to support teacher educators in infusing computational thinking and computer literacy into their programs. This work includes adapting existing lessons and developing instructional units and courses for both pre- and in-service teachers, with a focus on equitable and culturally responsive computing education. This initiative is funded by the New York City Department of Education, the Computer Science for All (CS4A) program, and the Robin Hood Learning + Technology Fund.
Work began in earnest in June with asynchronous professional development on computational thinking, computer science, and digital literacy. This was followed by eight professional development days spread over June, July, and August in which CUNY faculty worked together to build community, explore computing integration, understand the artifact design process, and develop research agendas. An engaging and varied menu of one-hour to two-hour workshops taught by experienced practitioners and academics were then offered to deepen knowledge in areas of interest. The capstone activity was to develop artifacts/activities/units to integrate computational thinking and computer science into education courses. In the final summer professional development days, participants presented their work to gather feedback from program coordinators and CUNY peers.
The five members of CCNY’s School of Education team are working on a variety of initiatives to integrate computational thinking into course offerings in ways that are aligned with the New York State Computer Programming and Digital Literacy Standards. A sequence of workshops to be used as professional development for other SOE faculty will be offered by the team during the 2022-2023 academic year.
Gary Benenson and Jody Hilton created a six-credit curriculum sequence titled Computers Unwrapped for in-service teachers. Portions of this curriculum will be integrated into Science in Elementary Education (EDCE 42000) this fall. On the other hand, Carolee Bongiorno, David Crismond, and Laura Gellert focused on a variety of coding technologies such as Scratch and StarLogo Nova to integrate computational thinking into several childhood education courses: How Children Learn Mathematics (EDCE 32200), Science in Elementary Education (EDCE 42000), and Literacy: Fluent to Experienced (EDCE 42300) for the fall semester. Professor Gellert explained that, “by integrating computing into these courses, we hope to promote digital literacies and computational learning; support conversations with our candidates about technology; and further develop candidates’ knowledge about learners, learning environments, equity, culturally relevant practices, instructional practices, and professionalism.”
Professors Benenson, Bongiorno, Crismond, Gellert, and Hilton hope to build this CCNY team. If you are interested in being a part of it, please contact Laura Gellert ( lgellert@ccny.cuny.edu ).
Last Updated: 08/26/2022 13:24