Broadening Participation in Computer Science through Sheltered Instruction Pedagogy

Abstract

Sheltered Instruction (SI), based on second language acquisition research, has been used to explore pedagogical interventions aimed at improving the outcomes of English Language Learners in Advanced Placement Computer Science (AP CS). English Language Learners are students who come from non-English speaking homes and backgrounds. With the increasing numbers of Hispanic students in many K-12 classrooms, Spanish is the language most often spoken by English Language Learners. During this year-long project, AP CS teachers attended a series of professional learning workshop on SI for Computer Science, and then utilized strategies from SI in their AP CS classrooms. Research outcomes of the pedagogical interventions identified new approaches to engage all students, through SI methods and materials used with the computer science curriculum. The SI pedagogy integrated with CS teaching skills shows how teachers can successfully engage more students in their classrooms, particularly students that may still be developing their academic English language skills, increasing CS education for all students. The SI methods used are explained here, for adoption by other computer science educators and researchers.