Building Elementary Computer Science Educators' Capacity: A Workshop to Improve Content and Pedagogical Knowledge

In an article titled “Building Elementary Computer Science Educators’ Capacity: A Workshop to Improve Content and Pedagogical Knowledge,” published in the journal Technology and Engineering Education (January 2025), authors David J. Amiel, Cynthia L. Blitz, and Taylor G. Clough of the Rutgers Center for Effective School Practices describe the process of planning and implementing a professional development workshop for elementary educators who are involved with delivering computer science education as part of their school-based curricula.

Topics discussed in the journal article about the workshop include: 

• Workshop planning considerations, such as selecting a format to best support educators in an out-of-school professional learning opportunity and developing an agenda that enables educators to quickly mobilize learned concepts.

• Highlights representing the most well-received pieces of the workshop as well as those that can be easily replicated or implemented in other settings by educators or professional development providers.

• Collaboration with experienced workshop instructors to develop professional learning that targets long-term retention through short-term implementation.

• Materials needed for participating in workshop model lessons (and for educators to subsequently implement them as part of their school-based curricula).

• Summaries of impact, survey results, and participant reflections.