Culturally sustaining pedagogy as a fourth 'C' in computing education pathways¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The presentation adds culturally sustaining pedagogy (citing Paris, 2012; Paris & Alim, 2014; Wilson-Lopez, 2016) as a fourth 'C' alongside the project's competencies, curricula, and credentialing. It defines three commitments: CSP "Foregrounds students' cultural practices, and it seeks the maintenance of these cultural practices as a primary goal, rather than using them solely as bridges to academic practices"; it seeks to "honor, explore and extend" heritage and evolving contemporary practices; and it "Encourages students to reflectively critique both dominant and non-dominant cultural practices".

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Educators must treat maintenance of students' cultural practices as a primary goal, not merely a bridge to academic practices

Constraints¶

• The presentation poses this as an open opportunity — one of its pressing questions asks what opportunities the project might have for introducing culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogy

Target Learners¶

• K-8 students in rural Appalachian communities

Target Learning Objectives¶

• computational thinking
• coding
• culturally sustaining engagement with computing

Claims¶

Related Theories¶

• Three-stage model of developing district computational thinking pathways: Getting Started, Getting Going, Getting Better
• Tools, Themes, and Competencies framework for organizing a CT/CS pathway
• Critical Speculative Design Pedagogy
• Civic imagination as a guiding framework for rural computing education

Examples¶

• Connect computational thinking to local maker and problem-solver heritage to teach it responsively to local culture

Key Sources¶

• Computing in Rural America: Developing K-8 Coding Pathways for Kentucky Appalachia. (2020). Presentation slides, December 2nd 2020. https://digitalpromise.dspacedirect.org/items/0c77d3c7-12c8-4a9b-8583-040137f0fd3c