Contribution of Computational Thinking to STEM Education: High School Teachers' Perceptions after a Professional Development Program.

This qualitative study (N==8) reports on high school STEM teachers' perceptions of the contribution of computational thinking (CT) to their classrooms. The participants were part of a four-week professional development program, CT-STEM Summer Institute (CTSI), in which they-together with educational researchers and computational experts-0-designed curricular units to be used in their classrooms. Analyzing exit interviews with the participants, we demonstrate how the program provided an environment for holistic and meaningful teacher growth regarding content, technology. and pedagogy. By positioning teachers first as CT learners and then as equal collaborators to design CT-enhanced curricula for their own contexts, we see evidence of teachers re-evaluating and expanding their ideas of how technology and CT positively impact them and their students in ways that can transform their classrooms. We highlight the ways by which the program design is linked with this change of perceptions.