ILE Computational Thinking SI

I’m happy to announce that a special issue of Interactive Learning Environments I co-edited with Cynthia D’Angelo of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and Breanne Litts of Utah State University. This special issue features a number of studies that explore the integration of computing and computational thinking into specific disciplines and practices. We argue that while the recent proliferation of top-down frameworks for defining computational thinking have helped educators envision what computing integration looks like at a planning level, such efforts are subject to missing rich engagements with computing unless they are complemented by rich, detailed examples of learning with computing in practice. Building on Kafai and colleagues’ (2019) call for more attention and explication regarding the theoretical spaces from which computational thinking is explored, so too should there be more attention granted to the role that spaces of learning play in shaping what counts as meaningful computational learning. Check out our editorial, here:

Wilkerson, M. H., D’Angelo, C., & Litts, B. (Eds.) (2020). Stories from the field: Locating and cultivating computational thinking in spaces of learning. [Special Issue] Interactive Learning Environments, 28(3), 264-271.

The entire special issue has some great examples of both the nuance and power of computational integration when it is complemented by grounded research and analysis.