Type

Article

Keywords

critical pedagogy, adolescents, secondary education

Abstract

Background and Context: With the growing movement to adopt critical framings of computing, scholars have worked to reframe computing education from the narrow development of programming skills to skills in identifying and resisting oppressive structures in computing. However, we have little guidance on how these framings may manifest in classroom practice. Objectives: To better understand the processes and practice of critical pedagogy in a computing classrooms, we taught a critically conscious computing elective within a summer academic program at a northwest United States university targeted at secondary students (ages 14–18) from low-income backgrounds and would be the first in their families to pursue a post-secondary education (i.e., first-generation). We investigated: (1) our participants’ initial perceptions of and attitudes toward the benefits and perils of computing, and (2) potential tensions that might emerge when secondary students negotiate the integration of critical pedagogy in a computing classroom. Methods: We qualitatively coded participant work from a critically conscious computing course within a summer academic program in the United States focused on students from low-income backgrounds or would be the first in their family to pursue a post-secondary education. Findings: Our participants’ initial attitudes toward technology were mostly positive, but exhibited an awareness of its negative impacts on their lives and society. Throughout the course, while participants demonstrated a rich social consciousness around technology, they faced challenges in addressing hegemonic values embedded in their programs, designs, and other classwork. Implications: Our findings revealed tensions between our participants’ computing attitudes, knowledge, self-efficacy, and social consciousness, suggesting pathways for scaffolding the critical examination of technology in secondary education. This study provides insights into the pedagogical content knowledge necessary for critical computing education.

Language

English

Department(s)

Computer Science

Journal or Book Title

ACM Transactions of Computing Education

Publication Year

2024

Page range

1-29

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1145/3702330

Rights Management

The original authors own the copyright to this work and have granted Carleton College permission to display and distribute it online through the Carleton College Library. For more information on the copyright status of this work, refer to the current copyright holder.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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