Universal Design for Computer Science Learning: Partnership for Inclusive Elementary Computer Science Education

This collaborative partnership project works to broaden participation by focusing on increasing inclusion of elementary students with disabilities in four school districts in four different regions of the US. Increasing access to computer science (CS) education for this broad range of learners presents an equity issue. It is widely known that people with disabilities are significantly underrepresented in computing education (e.g., NSF, 2019; Taylor & Ladner, 2011).

Beyond equity, increasing diversity within the STEM disciplines, including CS, produces benefits to everyone as the range of ideas that come from diverse stakeholders supports critical thinking and development that benefits all of society (Ferrini-Mundy, 2013). The partnership between the University of Florida and CS education leaders from New York City Public Schools, San Francisco Unified School District, Broward County Public Schools, and P.

K. Yonge Developmental Research School will develop and make available a range of professional development resources that will allow teachers to challenge their beliefs about students with disabilities and develop skills and knowledge about effective instructional approaches for accessible and engaging instruction for all their learners, including those with disabilities.

The project uses early-phase design-based implementation research (DBIR) to address a shared problem of practice related to the meaningful inclusion of students with disabilities in elementary CS education. An important part of this project is the work done to create an infrastructure for sharing knowledge, testing new ideas, empowering the Research Practice Partnership partners, and disseminating knowledge with the CS education field.

Necessary steps to ensuring equitable access to CS education for students with disabilities include: (1) understanding the level of inclusion of these learners in elementary CS instruction as well as catalysts and barriers to inclusion in CS instruction across the school districts, (2) investigating instructional practices to support teachers in making CS accessible and engaging for these learners typically underrepresented in the computing fields, and (3) beginning to develop flexible resources that can be used in professional development for general and special education teachers on inclusive CS education. This project will, therefore, generate new and transferable knowledge about the degree to which students with disabilities participate in elementary CS education, how different districts approach inclusion in CS education, and the catalysts and barriers involved in this effort.

In addition, the investigators will conduct case studies of each practice partners’ unique contexts. Lastly, this project will operationalize inclusive CS in different instructional settings and provide examples of how the Universal Design for Learning framework and a balanced approach to using explicit instruction within open inquiry CS education can be used to foster inclusive elementary CS learning. This project is funded by the CS for All: Research and RPPs program.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.