This study investigated middle school students' learning experiences with a computer science and digital literacy (CSDL) curriculum, which was developed through the CS Pathways researcher-practitioner partnership (RPP) project. The curriculum is based on students learning computer science (CS) through creating apps that serve community and social good. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from students in three urban districts: 1) 330 paired pre- and post-survey responses indicating students' confidence and interest in both learning CS and creating apps for social good; 2) 343 open-ended question responses in the post-survey probing into students' perceptions on learning CS after taking the course. Whether there were gender differences emerged from both data were also examined. The results showed that students' confidence in coding and creating apps for social good significantly increased after completing the course, regardless of gender. However, their interest in pursuing CS learning remained at a low level. Further analysis showed male students reported significantly stronger interest than female students. Qualitative analysis of the open-ended responses revealed that both male and female students appreciated the collaborative learning environment and learning coding through making apps. Male students did not like certain instructional approaches that their teachers used. Female students expressed their dislike of coding in general. We applied an interest development theory to further understand these results, which suggested that we consider the trajectory of students' interest development of CS.

This study examined student learning outcomes from a culturally responsive middle school computer science (CS) curriculum. The curriculum is based on students creating mobile apps serving community and social good. Two sets of data were collected from 294 students in three urban districts: (1) pre- and post- survey responses on their attitudes toward learning CS and creating culturally responsive apps; (2) the apps created by those students. The analyses of student apps indicated that students were able to create basic apps that connected with their personal interests, life experiences, class community, and the larger society. Paired sample t-tests of pre- and post- survey results indicated that students were significantly more confident in coding and creating community-focused apps after completing the course, regardless of gender and race. However, their interest in solving coding problems and continuing to learn CS decreased afterward. Analyses of students' attitudes by gender, grade, and race showed significant differences among some of those groups. Seventh grade students rated more positively on their attitudes than eighth graders. Students of different racial groups indicated significantly different attitudes, especially the Southeast Asian and African American groups. Male students also reported stronger confidence and interest and more positive attitudes overall than female students.

In this Research-to-Practice Full Paper, we report on CS Pathways, a middle school computer science (CS) curriculum developed as part of a researcher-practitioner partnership among two public universities and three urban school districts in the Northeast USA. The curriculum serves middle school students to develop apps for social impact. The partnership focuses on bridging the gap between STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and community and gender gap within STEM. The project is based on Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP), which includes the importance of recognizing students’ culture in all facets of learning. The project employs a researcher-practitioner partnership (RPP) model, which recognizes that transformational change can occur in educational ecosystems that connect research, policy, practice, and community work.The project curriculum was collaboratively developed by CS researchers, teacher-practitioners, and school administrators. Middle school students develop their own apps that support socially relevant activities in their communities. Using the RPP process, continuous feedback from researchers, teacher-practitioners, and students shaped the curriculum design. Key feedback was collected via one-on-one meetings with the teacher-practitioners, which bridged the visions and knowledge among different groups of the project partners.The curriculum includes the areas of computing and society, digital tools and collaboration, computing systems, and computational thinking. The curriculum helps students develop a critical consciousness of the role they can play in affecting their communities through computing, and empower them to move beyond simply learning to code [1]. The curriculum strives to demonstrate how to integrate computing across middle school subjects in a culturally-responsive way and spread a powerful message of Computer Science for All. This paper advocates for the need for culturally-responsive computing, describes how it is integrated into teachers’ instruction, and presents the CS Pathways curriculum design.