Teacher Sensemaking on Computational Thinking
Abstract
The existing literature regarding teacher sensemaking has identified that ‘‘sensemaking’’ is a plausible and valuable concept in exploring the reasons why teachers have a wide range of differences in perception and understanding of the same reforms or educational innovations. However, little research has shed light on the thorough process of teacher sensemaking of curriculum innovations, such as integrating Computational Thinking (CT) under the setting of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). Also, few studies have combined sensemaking and actor-network theory (ANT) to examine actors that influence teacher sensemaking toward curriculum innovations. ANT emphasizes actors that can be both human and non-human. Employing ANT in this study provided a thorough picture of teachers’ sensemaking, and how different actors affected their sensemaking. Moreover, CT is almost ubiquitous in education today, as diSessa asserts that CT can be a new form of literacy, namely Computational Literacy (CL). This research was qualitative and aimed to explore how seven mathematics teachers at a school in Singapore made sense of CT and made sense of how to integrate CT into the mathematics curriculum. Teachers in this study applied an unplugged approach of CT to teach math. This study employed a case-study design with seven teachers using observations of teacher meetings, semi-structured interviews with the teachers, and teacher artifacts. The findings showed how teachers made sense of CT and what actors influenced their sensemaking. Also, the four principles of CL were reflected within the findings. This study provided pertinent suggestions based on the findings and directions for future research.