Deepening Computational Thinking by Leveraging Student and Community Knowledge

Dr. Clare Baek, Assistant Professor in Learning Design and Technology, is expanding her work on culturally sustaining computer science curriculum in Hawaiʻi. Through an NSF-funded project initiated with colleagues at UC Irvine, Baek and her collaborators co-designed, with teachers and administrators from school districts across Southern California, a curriculum that integrates computer science with community-based environmental literacy and data literacy. Rather than learning coding as an isolated technical skill, students use computing to investigate environmental issues in their communities, collect and analyze data, research solutions, and communicate their ideas through interactive projects created with Scratch (a block-based coding language). 

A case study with multilingual elementary students with disabilities found that participation in the curriculum supported students’ motivation to learn computer science and development of computational thinking while building on their knowledge and experiences within their communities (Baek et al., 2025). Embedded scaffolds and supports in the curriculum helped students with diverse learning needs meaningfully participate in the interdisciplinary learning experience. 

Baek is now expanding this work to Hawaiʻi, collaborating with local teachers to adapt the curriculum to the knowledge and experiences of Hawaiʻi students and communities. Dr. Baek states, “Through this research, I want to show that computing education goes beyond just learning technical skills. Computing can be a powerful tool that gives all students agency to problem-solve, create, and communicate for their communities in innovative ways.”