Join us to learn small but powerful ways to add structure in our CS classes as a means of increasing opportunities for students to process and practice both language and content.
 
Collaborative Learning vs Cooperative Learning: The Why and How of Adding Structure to Student Interaction
 
In research, ‘Collaborative Learning’ is unstructured and allows students to decide when or if they participate. However, ‘Cooperative Learning’ is collaboration elevated through ‘microstructures’ such as: assigning specific roles for tasks and then rotating those roles, using a timer to indicate who is speaking/listening, sentence frames to prompt consensus or discourse, etc.
No matter what you call it, students need additional supports when you expect them to interact or problem solve with their peers. You will see several examples of how to increase the structure of your already established collaborative activities. You will also learn a few new activities that highlight how this practice promotes increased expectations, participation, and practice time for English Learners and Multilingual Learners.
 
Just Because It’s Computer Science, Don’t Forget Your Anchor Charts!
 
Dr. Beth Simon will showcase lesson structures designed in collaboration with experts from the California Reading and Literature Project, specifically tailored for elementary computer science classrooms.
 
This session will provide practical tools, including adaptable anchor charts, engaging warm-ups, and structured reflection strategies which you can adapt for your existing curriculum to support all of your students, including multilingual learners.
 
Dr. Simon will also share lessons learned, the CS+Elementary Spanish curriculum, and answer your questions and help you brainstorm ways to bring language support into your CS lessons.
 
We are excited to welcome Devon Marano, Ed.D to lead this learning for secondary educators.
 
Devon has 10 years of experience teaching at a Title 1 school in San Diego. During her 2nd year of teaching, she noticed her students lacked access to CS courses and despite having no experience, she worked with admin, counselors, and students to build a program with no prerequisites that would focus on equity. This goal is reflected through program enrollment that includes more than 50% female, approximately 95% Latinx, and 90% classified as low socioeconomic status.
 
She has earned recognition as District Teacher of the Year, national recognition via CSTA’s Teaching Excellence Award, and in 2022 she earned a Doctorate in Educational Leadership. Her doctoral research project explored the social emotional and academic implications of structured collaboration on underrepresented high school students within CS courses. Currently in her 11th year of education, she now works part-time as a resource teacher to support CS programs across her district and part-time as the Lead Facilitator for CSTA’s “CS for EL” program that supports the engagement and retention of English Learners in CS.
 
We are excited to welcome Dr. Beth Simon to lead this learning for elementary educators.
 
Dr. Simon is a Teaching Professor in the Department of Education Studies at UC San Diego. Her research interests lie in the areas of computing education and online and technology-enhanced teaching.
 
Beth is currently involved in the development of elementary and high school computing curriculum with a focus on English Learners and language support. She also offers CS preparation courses for K-12 teachers wanting to bring computing education opportunities to their students.
 
Previously, Beth studied the impacts of evidence-based active learning practices (e.g., Peer Instruction) on student outcomes in higher education, student conceptions of computing concepts, and novice computing students’ self-efficacy.