2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

With respect to previous studies and the state of the quality of K-12 computing education research, there remains room to improve the quality and quantity of research being conducted as well as the identification of research gaps focused on ensuring all children's learning needs are considered. To mitigate this, our project was designed to answer three research questions:

RQ1: How comprehensive is K-12 CER when examined with a specific lens on how it explicitly addresses broadening participation in computing or equity goals?
RQ2: What are the barriers that prevent K-12 computing education researchers from conducting research across the four components of CAPE?
RQ3: How effective are new resources, materials and workshops specifically created to address the gaps in and barriers to producing high-quality, equity-focused K-12 CER?

Over the last two years, our project has been engaged in answering these research questions through 1) framing prior research against the CAPE framework to identify gaps in research, and identify barriers researchers face when conducting high-quality research in equitable K-12 computing education; 2) using resulting data as well as input from experts in the field and other standards bodies, develop recommendations and resources for expanding coverage of equitable K-12 computing education research using the CAPE framework; and 3) using recommendations and resources to design and pilot workshops for training researchers in equitable K-12 CER methods and practices. This poster describes some of the major activities that answer our three primary research questions and how the resultant workshops have impacted computing education researchers.