The underrepresentation of certain groups in computing has led to increasing efforts to develop computing education that is responsive and relevant to a more diverse group of learners. Culturally relevant pedagogy is a framework for teaching that emphasises the importance of incorporating and valuing all learners’ knowledge, ways of learning, and heritage. It promotes the development of learners’ critical consciousness of the world and encourages them to ask questions about ethics, power, privilege, and social justice. Culturally relevant pedagogy emphasises opportunities to address issues that are important to learners and their communities.
In this project, researchers worked closely with a small number of primary and secondary schools to gain an understanding of their current practice, and to support them in planning adaptations to their teaching. The research approach was collaborative and participatory.
To support teachers, we developed a framework of ten areas of opportunity that teachers could consider when deciding how their practice was already or could become culturally responsive. This framework is a valuable contribution to the field that we, and others, will be able to use in broadening this research to larger groups of teachers, both within and outside of the UK.
The research was primarily centred around two workshops held in schools with participating teachers. During the first workshop, teachers worked with researchers to reflect on their current practice using the framework and planned small interventions for their classroom teaching over the coming months. In the second workshop, they reflected on how their classroom practice had evolved with a focus on culturally responsive computing teaching.
The evaluation project began with the development of a high-level Theory of Change (ToC) and evaluation strategy. A survey was then distributed to students and teachers before and after taking part in their respective programmes designed to measure their attitudes to and awareness of AI. We additionally conducted an implementation evaluation through interviews and focus groups to explore the experiences of students and teachers. Finally, we are analysing the reach of the programme and the demographics of the participants.
$69K, Google.org, 2022
From the project data, we developed four broad themes that represent the teachers’ experiences prior to the intervention. These themes indicate four ways in which schools can develop culturally responsive computing teaching: A) provision of relevant context and content; B) establishment of rapport and confidence building; C) integration of social justice into the computing curriculum; and D) multi-level review of practice. These themes are a second contribution of this research project and align with Bourdieu’s concepts of capital and habitus, and Freire’s critical pedagogy. From these findings, we have published a paper that was presented at the International Conference on Computing Education Research in 2023.
As a result of the intervention, teachers were able to incorporate more student choice and student interests into their lessons, and get to know their students better. A publication describing these findings is still in progress (March 2024).
As part of this study we developed the Areas of Opportunity framework which other teachers and researchers can use for discussion around culturally responsive teaching in computing.
| # | Area of Opportunity | Description | # | Area of Opportunity | Description |
| 1 | Learners | Find out about learners in order to reveal opportunities to adapt our teaching | 6 | Activity | Provide opportunities for learners to think about user experience and alternate viewpoints, participate in open-ended, inquiry led, or problem-solving activities. |
| 2 | Teachers | Find out about ourselves as practitioners – to reflect on one’s cultural lens | 7 | Collaboration | Develop student oriented learning through collaboration and structured group discussion |
| 3 | Content | Review what is taught in terms of the content; and add in extra culturally relevant content (e.g., about social justice/ethics, data bias accessibility etc.) | 8 | Student Agency | Develop student oriented learning through student choice |
| 4 | Context | Review contexts and examples used – to make teaching relevant, meaningful, to contextualise and make connections | 9 | Materials | Review the learning environment (including learning materials) – to increase accessibility, a sense of belonging and promote respect |
| 5 | Accessibility | Make the content accessible and relevant for all learners | 10 | Policy | Review related policies, process and training in your school and department |
Waite, J., Das, A., Hwang, A., & Sentance, S. (2023, October). Culturally relevant Areas of Opportunity for K-12 computing lessons. In 2023 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) (pp. 1-5). IEEE.
Raspberry Pi Computing Education Research Centre (2023). Bringing culturally responsive teaching to K-12 computing education. Project Report.
Leonard, H., Kirby, D., Sentance, S., Chinaka, L., Deutsch, M., Dimitriadi, Y., & Goode, J. (2021). Culturally relevant and responsive computing: A guide for curriculum design and teaching. Raspberry Pi Foundation.
Leonard, H. C., & Sentance, S. (2021). Culturally-relevant and responsive pedagogy in computing: A Quick Scoping Review. International Journal of Computer Science Education in Schools, 5(2), 3-13.
Leonard, H. C., Kirby, D., Sentance, S., Chinaka, L., Deutsch, M., Dimitriadi, Y. and Goode, J. (2021). Localising culturally responsive computing teaching to an English context: Developing teacher guidelines. In Understanding Computing Education (Vol. 2): Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Proceedings of the Raspberry Pi Foundation Research Seminars.
Leonard, H. C., Quinlan, O., & Sentance, S. (2021, September). Female pupils’ attitudes to computing in early adolescence. In Proceedings of the 2021 Conference on United Kingdom & Ireland Computing Education Research (pp. 1-6). (Open-access author copy, presentation slides, and video presentation)
Kunkeler, T., & Leonard, H. C. (2021, May). Computing skills, beliefs and identities in young people from underserved communities. In 2021 Conference on Research in Equitable and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT) (pp. 1-5). IEEE. (Open-access author copy)
Leonard, H. C. and Kunkeler, T. (2021). Why the ‘digital divide’ does not stop at access. In Understanding Computing Education (Vol. 2): Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Proceedings of the Raspberry Pi Foundation Research Seminars.