Computing with Relevance and Purpose: A Review of Culturally Relevant Education in Computing

Abstract

The purpose of the present review was to identify culturally responsive education (CRE) tools and strategies within K-12 computing education. A systematic literature review of studies on CRE across 20 years was conducted. A narrative synthesis was applied to code the final studies into six themes: sociopolitical consciousness raising, heritage culture through artifacts, vernacular culture, lived experiences, community connections, and personalization. These common themes in CRE can help empower and attend to the needs of marginalized students in technology education. Furthermore, the review serves as an important overview for researchers and educators attempting to achieve equity in computing education.

Culturally-relevant and responsive pedagogy in computing: A Quick Scoping Review

“…We began by searching for a recent review paper on culturally relevant pedagogy in computing through Google Scholar, using the term "culturally relevant computing review". This identified a narrative review conducted by Morales-Chicas et al (2019) which included 22 papers from JSTOR Arts and Sciences, Web of Science, and ERIC databases on three key themes that had been identified in a previous scoping exercise, and which were used in the systematic literature search: culturally responsive computing, ethnocomputing, and Culturally Situated Design Tools. Ethnocomputing relies on the use of relevant cultural artifacts and symbols, as opposed to Western ones that pervade most computing curricula (Tedre et al, 2006).…”

“…Culturally situated design tools (CSDTs) are developed to this end, producing visual programming media reflecting different cultural practices and artifacts, and codesigned with the community for whom the practice or artifact is relevant (Eglash et al, 2006). The term 'etextiles' had also been added to the search terms as these teaching activities often include elements of culturally relevant pedagogy, although they do not specifically adopt a culturally responsive approach (Morales-Chicas et al, 2019). Papers were included in the review if they were written in English in peer-reviewed journals between 1998-2018, and if they focused on K-12 education.…”

“…The final QSR therefore included 6 papers from the original systematic review by Morales-Chicas et al (2019), and 6 additional papers published between 2018 and March 2021.…”

“…From the earlier set of studies reviewed by Morales-Chicas et al (2019), the out-of-school programs (Ashcraft et al, 2017;DiSalvo et al, 2014;Scott & White, 2013) tended to focus on more vernacular culture and provided more opportunities for professionally authentic computing experiences, aiming to improve the learners' understanding of different careers and types of roles within computing. They also provided opportunities to identify and try to address issues that were meaningful to the learners and their communities, thus highlighting the relevance of computing and encouraging learners to become agents of change.…”

Engaging Equity Pedagogies in Computer Science Learning Environments

“…However, we choose to highlight the following four frameworks because they provide the theoretical foundation for much of the current research and practice across learning contexts based on our review of the extant literature. These assets-based approaches specifically aim to support minoritized students across content areas, and a more comprehensive review of frameworks and related research is outside the scope of this manuscript (for reviews, see Aronson & Laughter, 2016;Morales-Chicas et al, 2019;Vakil, 2018). In Table 1, we provide an overview of the four frameworks we highlight in this paper, which is followed by a detailed discussion of each framework.…”