Assistant Professor Clare Baek, in the UH Mānoa College of Education Department of Learning Design and Technology (LTEC), is part of a four-year, $2 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant program. She is a co-principal investigator for the project, Deepening Computational Thinking for English Learners by Integrating Community-based Environmental Literacy, with colleagues from the University of California, Irvine.

Baek will receive $33,000 from this larger NSF grant to help design and implement a fifth-grade curriculum that integrates computational thinking, community-based environmental literacy, and data literacy for culturally and linguistically diverse students across four local education agencies in Southern California.

“It’s an honor to work with and learn from multiple communities in Southern California through this project,” Baek said. “I hope to expand the partnership to local communities in Hawaiʻi and continue collaborating with community members here.”

The curriculum is co-designed through a research-practice partnership in which teachers and researchers collaborate to design, implement, evaluate, and improve instruction each year based on student learning outcomes and teaching experiences. Students will use coding to create projects that address local environmental issues, analyze data they collect, and communicate their findings using scientific language while drawing on their community, cultural, and linguistic knowledge.

3 Key Goals of Deepening Computational Thinking for English Learners by Integrating Community-based Environmental Literacy

1. Examine how engaging in this interdisciplinary, community-based curriculum can promote student learning processes and outcomes in environmental literacy, science knowledge, computational thinking, computer science identity, and academic language proficiency
2. Explore how elementary students—who are often considered too young for data science education—can develop data literacy by collecting and analyzing data while leveraging their cultural, linguistic, and community knowledge
3. Investigate the co-design process between teachers and researchers, particularly how elements such as tensions and negotiations can serve as catalysts for curriculum refinement and professional development for both teachers and researchers