Investigating Which Elements of ECS Teaching Motivate Subsequent Computer Science Course Taking

A key strategy for broadening computer science participation in a large urban school district has been the enactment of a high school computer science graduation requirement. The Exploring Computer Science (ECS) curriculum and professional development program serves as a core foundation for supporting the enactment of this policy. ECS seeks to foster broadening participation in computer science through activities designed to engage students in computer science inquiry connected to meaningful problems. Prior research has shown that student motivation is an important mediating factor for the impact of ECS on broadening participation in future CS coursework. The current study was undertaken to investigate which ECS teaching practices inuence students' motivation to pursue additional high school computer science coursework. Researchers used the Danielson Framework for Teaching and the Tripod 7C as indicators of ECS teaching practices and expectancy-value-cost as a proxy for the likelihood of students taking additional coursework. Researchers collected and analyzed video observations and student surveys from one ECS lesson from 21 teachers. The results indicate that ECS teaching practices related to equity play a signifcant role in supporting inquiry around important computer science content. Those practices related to inquiry and computer science content were in turn correlated with student measures of motivation to enroll in future CS coursework. The results of this research provide evidence of the central role that equitable teaching practices play in broadening participation in computer science by increasing student motivation to enroll in future CS coursework.