Research
Working Memory Behaviors Observed While Young Children Code at Home and School
fall 2021 (if awarded an external grant)
Instructions for how to access Codespark Academy and use Zoom to record students as they engage in coding activities will be provided in backpacks offered to 2nd-grade teachers for students to check out for a week to take home and use in classrooms. A complementary elementary book on coding will be given to each student participant and teacher. The backpacks will include iPads so families without tablets or computers to access the internet can participate in this research. The purpose of this research is to identify working memory behaviors will be analyzed from videos taken in the homes and classrooms of 2nd-grade students.
Computational Thinking Behaviors in Early Childhood Classrooms
fall 2020 (depending on Covid conditions)
Using Beebots, Codeapillars, Lego WeDo Robotics, and Codespark Academy provide the medium for observing young children as they engage in coding activities. The purpose is to evaluate the computational thinking behaviors of children as they participate in these activities.
Coding Playgrounds in EC Classrooms
Spring 2019
This research on PreK-2nd grade classrooms integrated ScratchJr and Lego WeDo2.0 kits in centers as "coding playgrounds". The purpose was to observe and discover engineering behaviors exhibited by students.
Websites and Apps
2017
Using the PAPER evaluation tool created from my previous research, I began evaluating literacy apps so teachers had effective literacy apps to offer to students for independent practice. A list of ineffective and effective literacy apps are provided which describe the literacy skills practiced within each app.
PAPER - A Literacy App Evaluation Rubric
2014
Merged effective app design, pedagogical practices, and literacy continuums to create a five criteria rubric to evaluate literacy apps. The five criteria provide teachers with specific literacy skills practiced, level of engagement, opportunity for feedback, ability to make adaptations, student independece with technology, and cost of app. A comprehensive list of literacy apps is created through the collaboration with in-service and pre-service teachers.