DOI: 10.5061/dryad.ttdz08m6v
title: Programming and computational thinking concepts and contextual factors in integrated computing activities in U.S. Schools

description: Integrated computing uses computing tools and concepts to support learning
 in other disciplines while giving all students opportunities to experience
 computer science. Integrated computing is often motivated as a way to
 introduce computing to students in a low-stakes environment, reducing
 barriers to learning computer science, often especially for
 underrepresented groups. This dataset examined integrated computing
 activities implemented in US schools to examine which programming and CT
 concepts they teach and whether those concepts differed across contexts.
 We gathered data on 262 integrated computing activities from in-service
 K-12 teachers and 20 contextual factors related to the classroom (i.e.,
 primary discipline, grade level, programming paradigm, programming
 language, minimum amount of time the lesson takes, source of the lesson
 plan), the teacher (i.e., years teaching, current role (classroom teacher,
 tech specialist, STEM specialist, etc.), grade levels taught, disciplines
 taught, degrees and certifications, institutional support received for
 integrated computing, gender, race, self-efficacy), and the school (e.g.,
 socioeconomic status of students, racial composition, number of CS courses
 offered, number of CS teachers, years CS courses have been taught, number
 of students, school location (urban, suburban, rural)).
description: <strong>Procedure</strong>
 Data about integrated computing lessons in non-CS classrooms
 were collected from in-service K-12 teachers in the United States via an
 online survey, and 262 surveys were completed. Participants were recruited
 first through teacher networks and districts to include diverse
 populations and then through LinkedIn. Teachers received a $100 gift card
 upon completion of the survey, which took approximately 30 minutes. Due to
 the incentive, submissions were screened during data collection to ensure
 eligibility (i.e., having a valid school district email) and quality
 (described below).  
 <strong>Instrument</strong>
 The survey asked about the programming and CT concepts taught
 in the activities and 20 factors related to classroom, teacher, and school
 context. The programming concepts included were based on a framework
 developed by Margulieux et al., 2023. A full list of concepts and
 contextual factors can be found below. Due to the large sample size, the
 survey was designed to be primarily quantitative but included a few
 qualitative questions (e.g., "Please describe in 1-2 sentences the
 computing learning objective of this activity") and requested
 teachers to submit their lesson plans. The research team used these
 qualitative elements to verify data quality, such as by ensuring the
 lesson included computing and comparing elements of the lesson plans to
 the quantitative data provided by the teachers. Overall, we found, and
 excluded, very few instances of low-quality data.
   <strong>Survey Questions and
 Descriptive Statistics</strong>
 <strong>Qualitative Questions:</strong>
 Title of lesson plan One sentence
 describing the activity topic (e.g., In this activity, students apply
 their computational thinking skills to explore the life cycle of a
 butterfly.) One sentence describing the
 disciplinary learning objective (e.g., The primary learning goal is to
 model the life cycle of a butterfly.) One sentence
 describing the computing learning objective (e.g., Students will
 conditionals to match body features to life stages.)
 1-3 sentences describing the instructional paradigm (e.g.,
 Students will discuss butterflies and life cycles with their partners.
 Then they will modify the program and use conditionals to create the
 model.)  
 <strong>Quantitative Question Topic: Response Options
 (descriptive statistics in parentheses)</strong>
   Programming and CT
 Concepts Programming paradigm: Select one: No
 Programming (80), Unplugged (87), Block-based (69), Text-based
 (26) Programming language: Open-ended
 Programming concepts: Select all that apply:
 Operator-arithmetic, Operator-Boolean, Operator-relational,
 Conditional-if-else, Conditional-if-then, Loop-for loop, Loop-while loop,
 Loop-loop index variable, Function-define/call, Function-parameter,
 Variable, Data types (string, integer, etc.), List, Multimedia component
 (sprite, sound, button, etc.), Multimedia properties (color, location,
 etc.), Multimedia movement (forward, back, turn), Output-string,
 Output-variable, User input, Event (M = 3.2, SD = 2.7)
 CT concepts: Select all that apply: Algorithms–sequences (158),
 Algorithms–parallelism (10), Pattern recognition (142), Abstraction (84),
 Decomposition (89), Debugging (40), Automation (40) (M = 2.1, SD =
 1.1)  
 <strong>Classroom Context</strong>
 Integrated discipline: Select one: Art (5), Language arts (37),
 Foreign language (2), Math (67), Music (3), Science (61), Social Studies
 (13) Grades taught in lesson: Select all that
 apply: Kindergarten through 12th grade (activities that spanned K-5 = 107,
 6-8 = 53, 9-12 = 93, K-12 = 9) Minimum amount of
 time the lesson takes: Select one: &lt; 1 hour (90), 1-3 hours (126),
 3-8 hours (32), 8+ hours (14) Source of the lesson
 plan: Select all that apply: Colleague (16), Online search (18),
 Professional development (20), Professional organization (23), Created
 based on an external source by myself or with colleagues (28), Modified
 from an external source (33), Created by myself or with colleagues
 (124)  
 <strong>Teacher Information</strong>
 Number of years teaching: Open-ended, M = 14.11, SD =
 7.6 Current role: Select one: Teacher (220),
 STEM/Tech specialist (24), Librarian (9), Computer lab director (1), Other
 (8) Grade levels taught: Select all that apply:
 K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-10, 11-12 (grade levels that spanned K-5 = 79, 6-8 = 45,
 9-12 = 93, K-12 = 45) Disciplines taught: Select
 all that apply: Art (13), Language arts (71), Foreign language (5), Math
 (134), Music (4), Science (100), Social Studies (54), Computer science
 (80), Technology (78), Other (8) Degrees, Certs,
 endorsements, etc. attained: Select all that apply: Teaching certificate
 in primary discipline(s) (164), Teaching certificate in CS (17),
 Bachelor’s degree in primary discipline education (129), Bachelor’s degree
 in CS or CS education (4), Master’s degree in primary discipline education
 (163), Master’s degree in CS or CS education (0), Endorsement in computer
 science education (47), EdD or PhD in education (17), Other
 (86) Support for integrated CS/CT development and
 implementation: Select all that apply: Professional development through my
 school/district/LEA/RESA (157), Professional development through external
 organizations (117), Peer/colleague/department collaboration in my
 school/district/LEA/RESA (130), Peer/colleague collaboration in external
 organizations (73), Funding for software licensing, hardware, or curricula
 (69) Self-efficacy: Views of CT and self-efficacy
 scale from Yadav, Caeli, Ocak, and Macann, 2022 (M = 4.23 out of 5, SD =
 0.60) Gender: Select one: Man (60), Woman (198),
 Non-binary/third gender (2), Prefer not to say (2)
 Race: Select one: African American or Black (31), American
 Indian or Indigenous (1), Asian (13), Caucasian or White (193), Latino/a/x
 or Hispanic (10), Middle Eastern (0), Pacific
 Islander (0), Other (14)  
 <strong>School Context</strong>
 Number of students: Open-ended (M = 1179, SD = 741)
 Number of CS teachers: Open-ended (M = 1.6, SD =
 1.4) Number of CS courses: Open-ended (M = 2.1, SD
 = 2.0) Number of years CS courses taught:
 Open-ended (M = 3.0, SD = 2.1) Racial composition:
 Give % of each race: American Indian or Native American (M = 1.8%), Asian
 (M = 4.5%), Black or African American (M = 23.3%), Hispanic or Latino (M =
 17.2%), White or Caucasian (M = 47.5%), Other (M = 2.4%)
 % of students eligible for free or reduced lunch: Open-ended (M
 = 56%, SD = 34%) Type of area: Select one: Rural
 (90), Suburban (122), Urban (50)
description: # Programming and Computational Thinking Concepts and Contextual Factors
 in Integrated Computing Activities in U.S. Schools
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ttdz08m6v](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ttdz08m6v) Some of the early submissions were missing questions related to school context. These missing data are marked as "null". ## **Survey Questions Code Book** **Survey Questions and Descriptive Statistics** **Qualitative Questions (all open-ended):** Title of lesson plan One sentence describing the activity topic (e.g., In this activity, students apply their computational thinking skills to explore the life cycle of a butterfly.) One sentence describing the disciplinary learning objective (e.g., The primary learning goal is to model the life cycle of a butterfly.) One sentence describing the computing learning objective (e.g., Students will conditionals to match body features to life stages.) 1-3 sentences describing the instructional paradigm (e.g., Students will discuss butterflies and life cycles with their partners. Then they will modify the program and use conditionals to create the model.) **Quantitative Questions and Response Options:** *Programming and CT Concepts* **Programming paradigm:** No programming-1, Unplugged-2, Block-Based-3, Text-based-4 **Programming language:** Open-ended **Programming concepts:** Not used-0, Used-1 for each concept Select all that apply: Operator-arithmetic, Operator-Boolean, Operator-relational, Conditional-if-else, Conditional-if-then, Loop-for loop, Loop-while loop, Loop-loop index variable, Function-define/call, Function-parameter, Variable, Data types (string, integer, etc.), List, Multimedia component (sprite, sound, button, etc.), Multimedia properties (color, location, etc.), Multimedia movement (forward, back, turn), Output-string, Output-variable, User input, Event **CT concepts:** Not used-0, Used-1 for each concept Select all that apply: Algorithms–sequences, Algorithms–parallelism, Pattern recognition, Abstraction, Decomposition, Debugging, Automation *Classroom Context* **Integrated discipline:** Art-1, English-2, Foreign Language-3, Math-4, Music-5, Science-6, Social Studies-7, Spatial Skills-8, Other-9, Math and Science-10, Multiple-11 **Grades taught in lesson:** K-2 grade-1, 3-5 grade-2, 6-8 grade-3, 9-10 grade-4, 11-12 grade-5, 9-12 grade-6, 6-12 grade-7, K-5 grade-8, K-12 grade-9 **Minimum amount of time the lesson takes:** &lt;1 hour-1, 1-3 hours-2, 3-8 hours-3, 8+hours-4 **Source of the lesson plan:** From a colleague-1, From an online search-2, From professional development-3, From a professional organization-4, Used an activity from an external source and created the lesson plan myself or with colleagues-5, Modified an activity or lesson plan from an external source-6, Created it myself or with colleagues-7, Other-8, Multiple-9 *Teacher Information* **Number of years teaching:** Open-ended **Current role:** Teacher-1, STEM/Tech Specialist-2, Librarian-3, Computer Lab-4, Other-5 **Grade levels taught:** K-5 grade-1, 6-8 grade-2, 9-12 grade-3, K-12 grade-4 **Disciplines taught:** Not taught-0, Taught-1 for each discipline Select all that apply: Art, Language arts, Foreign language, Math, Music, Science, Social Studies, Computer science, Technology, Other **Degrees, Certs, endorsements, etc. attained:** Endorsement-1, Teaching Certificate -2, Bachelors Degree-3, Masters Degree-4, Terminal degree such as Ed.D. or Ph.D.-5, Other-6 **STEM or CS certification** No-0, Yes-0 **Support for integrated CS/CT development and implementation:** 1-Professional development through my school/district/local education agency (LEA)/regional education service agency (RESA), 2-Professional development through external organizations, such as non-profits, for-profit, and state- or national-level organizations (e.g., Computer Science Teacher's Association (CSTA), state Dept of Education), 3-Peer/colleague/department collaboration in my school/district/LEA/RESA,  4-Peer/colleague collaboration in external organizations, such as non-profits, for-profit, and state- or national-level, organizations (e.g., CSTA, state Dept of Education), 5-Funding for software licensing, hardware (e.g., robots), or curricula,  6-Other **Self-efficacy:** iews of CT and self-efficacy scale from Yadav, Caeli, Ocak, and Macann, 2022; Strongly disagree-1, Somewhat disagree-2, Neither agree nor disagree-3, Somewhat agree-4, Strongly agree-5 for each item **Gender:** Male-1, Female-2, Non-binary/third-3, Prefer not to say-4 **Race:** African American or Black-1, American Indian or Indigenous-2, Asian-3, Caucasian or White-4, Latino/a/x or Hispanic-5, Middle Eastern-6, Pacific Islander-7, Other-8 *School Context* **Number of students:** Open-ended **Number of CS teachers:** Open-ended **Number of CS courses:** Open-ended **Number of years CS courses taught:** Open-ended **Racial composition:** Give % of each race: American Indian or Native American, Asian, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, White or Caucasian, Other **% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch:** Open-ended **Type of area:** Rural-1, Suburban-2, Urban-3