21CSLA (21st Century California School Leadership Academy)

As Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) learning technologies become more ubiquitous in society, the need to understand how teachers design and implement curriculum and pedagogy to facilitate their students’ development of computational thinking needed in STEM subjects is crucial. More research is needed in collaboration with teachers to see which strategies are effective in making STEM subjects accessible to early learners. We focus on teachers’ use of LEGO robotics as one aspect of STEM technology that has the potential to expand the development of computational thinking and engineering mindsets. We observed, documented, interviewed, and analyzed two teachers’ design and implementation of both pedagogy and curriculum in the context of a LEGO robotics after-school program. Research indicates that STEM disciplinary practices support social-emotional learning (SEL); skills like social awareness and responsible decision-making bolster fundamental engineering processes. Reflecting on STEM instruction during noticing interviews revealed the importance of SEL, productive struggle, and extensive knowledge of children as catalysts for access to and success with STEM. Attending to teachers’ individual approaches to time—how they reflect on the past to inform the present and the future—deepened our understanding of how SEL was facilitated in the classroom.