Voicing Code in STEM

An exploration of coding that investigates the interplay between computational abstractions and the fundamentally interpretive nature of human experience.

The importance of coding in K-12 classrooms has been taken up by both scholars and educators. Voicing Code in STEM offers a new way to think about coding in the classroom--one that goes beyond device-level engagement to consider the interplay between computational abstractions and the fundamentally interpretive nature of human experience. Building on Mikhail Bakhtin's notions of heterogeneity and heteroglossia, the authors explain how STEM coding can be understood as voicing computational utterances, rather than a technocentric framing of building computational artifacts. Empirical chapters illustrate this theoretical stance by investigating different framings of coding as voicing.List of Figures xi
List of Tables xiii
Acknowledgments xv
1 Beyond Technocentrism: Coding as Experience 1
2 A Dialogical Imagination of Coding in STEM 23
3 Coding and Modeling as Perspectival Work 41
4 Addressivity in Computational Design 63
5 Recontextualization and Transitional Othering 87
6 Computational Heterogeneity and Teacher Voice 121
7 Coding as Aesthetic Experience 165
8 Computational Heterogeneity: A Radical Reflection 191
Index 211“As access to technology has expanded in K–12 classrooms, it is the technology itself that has been the central focus, making learners, educators, communities, and histories peripheral. The authors of this book return the complex experience of learners and educators to the center of the classroom narrative.”
—Colleen M. Lewis, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 

 “Computational heterogeneity offers a critical correction to the widespread embrace of ‘coding for all.’ With a distinct combination of theoretical depth and rich classroom examples, the authors illuminate the possibilities of centering the lived experiences of students and teachers in computing.”
—Thomas M. Philip, Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Education, University of California, BerkeleyPratim Sengupta Pratim is Full Professor of Learning Sciences and Research Chair in STEM Education in the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary. Amanda Dickes is a Learning Scientist at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute. Amy Voss Farris is Assistant Professor at Penn State College of Education.