This mini session describes considerations for facilitating multiple programming languages in one space. I provide video examples of what it looks like when young coders select from four different programming languages to create projects of interest. Following an overview of what coders created in the classes I designed and facilitated, I discuss considerations for simultaneously facilitating multiple languages; this discussion includes suggestions for selecting and creating resources, questioning techniques, peer-to-peer mentoring, room setup, and more.

Teacher burnout has always been a problem in the field of education; however, the past couple of years has exacerbated the issue. With teacher shortages continuing to be an issue across the nation, we need to discuss strategies for preventing burnout in the field.

In addition, computer science teachers face unique challenges when it comes to finding work-life balance. In this session, we will provide a summary of strategies that more than 50 CS educators have shared in interviews on the #CSK8 Podcast, as well as best practices and ideas from productivity science. Attendees will not only learn from other CS educators, but will share their own strategies for staying mentally, physically, and emotionally healthy, even in today’s education landscape.

We will discuss actionable suggestions for working with trans students and conclude with open (or anonymous) Q&A.

While the adoption of CS standards will broaden participation in CS education, implementation efforts might unintentionally cause some students to lose interest in CS. This session proposes an alternative approach by questioning what CS education might look like if we designed and facilitated learning experiences that centered student interest.

Although some popular musicians engage in computer science practices for music-related purposes, such engagement is seldom discussed within music education or CS education discourse. This session begins with an exploration of hardware practices popular musicians use to modify, design, or build electronic devices for their music. I then introduce coding practices to create and modify music software, as well as to compose and perform with code. The session concludes with a discussion that unpacks potential implications and considerations for educators interested in the intersections of popular musicianship and CS practices.

Discussions around the digital divide often revolve around inequalities related to a lack of access to technology or CS education; however, access alone does not create equitable learning experiences. This session unpacks some of the (un)intentionally engineered inequities in CS and encourages a rethinking of how we engage with CS and technology by discussing concepts such as the digital divide, rhizomatic learning, technological determinism, and more. Teachers will walk away with several recommended resources (e.g., articles and books) that further unpacks what is introduced in this session.

Affinity spaces are the physical, virtual, or combination of locations where people come together around a shared affinity (interest) (Duncan & Hayes, 2012). Gee and Hayes (2010) categorize a space as an affinity space when it has the majority of the following twelve characteristics: 1) Affinity spaces share a common endeavor; 2) affinity spaces are not segregated by age; 3) affinity spaces are not segregated by experience; 4) affinity spaces encourage, but do not require, active participation; 5) interaction transforms content within an affinity space; 6) affinity spaces encourage both intensive and extensive knowledge; 7) affinity spaces encourage individual and distributed knowledge; 8) affinity spaces encourage dispersed knowledge; 9) affinity spaces encourage and honor tacit knowledge; 10) affinity spaces encourage a multitude of engagement; 11) affinity spaces have multiple routes to status; and 12) leadership is porous and leaders are resources. This session discusses each characteristic in relation to informal, online music-related affinity spaces of each characteristic and explores both practical and theoretical applications within virtual and in-person educational contexts.

Many scholars have produced powerful equity-centered curricular and pedagogical approaches relevant to CS educators. However, well-intentioned educators and curriculum providers who intend to use culturally relevant approaches may mistakenly apply these frameworks and unintentionally enact what we refer to as “culturally specific” approaches to education. Such approaches fail to account for students’ multifaceted experiences of culture and identity in the design of their learning experiences, ignoring their specific needs, goals, and desires for their learning. Rather than delivering content for groups of culturally specific identities, this position paper describes a “cartographical” curricular and pedagogical approach informed by a rhizomatic philosophy of learning that fosters dialogue among students as individuals with unique identities, interests, and needs that teachers and students explore together through computer science education. We position rhizomatic pedagogy as an additional lens to apply alongside other frameworks for fostering equity—one that establishes a set of strategies for engaging students in dialogue around their learning experiences, empowering learners to participate in the co-construction of their educational spaces, and building curricula that express hyper-local, deeply situated, student-centered teaching and learning practices.

This exploratory mini session explores hardware practices popular musicians use to modify, design, or build electronic devices for their music. I then introduce coding practices to create and modify music software, as well as to compose and perform with code. The mini session concludes by sharing a variety of resources for diving deeper and having an open Q&A about the intersections of popular musicianship and CS practices.

Although some popular musicians engage in computer science practices for music-related purposes, such engagement is seldom discussed within music education or CS education discourse. This session begins with an exploration of hardware practices popular musicians use to modify, design, or build electronic devices for their music. I then introduce coding practices to create and modify music software, as well as to compose and perform with code. The session concludes with a discussion that unpacks potential implications and considerations for educators interested in the intersections of popular musicianship and CS practices.

Absolute beginners are invited to experience a differentiated physical computing and computer science classroom that meets learners where they are. Utilizing Scratch and micro:bits, participants will self-select into interest-based groups to begin creating a project that deepens their own understanding of physical computing and computer science education.

Sequential learning within computer science classes often assumes an interest in CS or uses external rewards and punishments to motivate students to participate. Such an approach rarely takes into account the individual interests of students who may be required to participate and could cause some students to lose interest in CS. This session challenges the design of sequential learning by modeling and unpacking an approach that centers students' interests in learning. This session will alternate between discussion and participation that begins by problematizing sequential learning, models and discusses options for incorporating choice in CS classes, and then models and discusses what a CS classroom could look like if it were designed around student-interest.

Fort Washakie, Fremont County School District #38, and Wyoming Indian Schools, are partnering to develop a curriculum that integrates Computer Science education standards with Indian Education for All standards. The project goal is to increase teachers’ self-efficacy for teaching computer science standards and increase pedagogical and content knowledge.

Project members will share how their teams are developing, piloting, and refining curriculum units that integrate computer science with Indian Education for All standards in their unique school communities. We’ll discuss our process as well as hear from educators about successes and challenges so far.

This is a partnership with American Institutes for Research, the WY Department of Education, and the nonprofit BootUp and funded by the National Science Foundation’s CSforAll RPP.

Fort Washakie, Fremont County School District #38, and Wyoming Indian Schools, are partnering to develop a curriculum that integrates Computer Science education standards with Indian Education for All standards. The project goal is to increase teachers’ self-efficacy for teaching computer science standards and increase pedagogical and content knowledge. This is a partnership with American Institutes for Research, the WY Department of Education, and the nonprofit BootUp and funded by the National Science Foundation’s CSforAll RPP. Project members and representatives from schools will share how their teams are developing, piloting, and refining curriculum units that integrate computer science with Indian Education for All standards in their unique school communities. We’ll discuss our process as well as hear from educators about successes and challenges so far.

This session briefly explores some of the ways people create music through computer science practices, then explores creating a hip version of Hot Cross Buns in Sonic Pi.

This session explores music technology, video games, and computer science through three intersecting questions: 1) How can technology be combined, modified, or created for new ways of making music? 2) When is music? 3) When (and what) is a musical instrument?

The Wyoming Department of Education, in collaboration with American Institutes for Research, three Wyoming school districts on the Wind River Reservation, and BootUp PD are writing, piloting, and refining a curriculum that integrates computer science with the WY Indian Education for All social studies standards in culturally relevant ways. Representatives from the districts will share their approach, an update on the project, and lessons learned.

Discussions around the digital divide often revolve around inequalities related to a lack of access to technology; however, access alone does not create equitable learning experiences. This session unpacks some of the (un)intentionally engineered inequities in technology and encourages a rethinking of how we engage with technology.

Although some popular musicians engage in computer science practices for music-related purposes, such engagement is seldom discussed within music education or CS education discourse. This session begins with an exploration of hardware practices popular musicians use to modify, design, or build electronic devices for their music. I then introduce coding practices to create and modify music software, as well as to compose and perform with code. The session concludes with a discussion that unpacks potential implications and considerations for educators interested in the intersections of popular musicianship and CS practices.