Preparing inservice science teachers to bring unplugged computational thinking to their students

Computational thinking (CT) is critical for Twenty-first century life. Ensuring equitable access to CT depends on preparing teachers to integrate CT into disciplinary curricula. We report on the design, evaluation, and outcomes of the Computational Thinking Unplugged for Science (CT-UP-S) professional development program for inservice science teachers. Our process-based approach to CT significantly improved teachers CT understanding and CT/science integration self-efficacy by systematically linking CT practices to scaffold the generation of unplugged algorithms. Additionally, we found that the process-based approach provided a framework for teachers' lesson planning and that teachers' content knowledge moderated their ability to write CT-integrated science lessons. (c) 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.