Spreading the Word: Introducing Pre-Service Teachers to Programming in the K-12 Classroom

We present our experiences and outcomes from a programming camp held for sixth through ninth grade students. The instructional team included five pre-service teachers who earned field experience credit for this work, and one in-service teacher. The pre-service teachers were art and music teachers-in-training, providing an opportunity for us to utilize their creative expertise in developing content for the camp. In turn, we helped the teachers explore ways they might incorporate today's user-friendly programming environments (in this case, Scratch) into their curriculum. During each of four week-long sessions, the pre-service teachers gradually took over more teaching responsibilities, modifying and then presenting lessons that incorporate their own music and art expertise into the programming activities. Student pre-camp and post-camp surveys show that self-efficacy towards programming, enjoyment of programming, and interest in continuing to program increased over the course of the week-long sessions. Meanwhile, the teachers-in-training discovered they are capable of incorporating their subject matter into Scratch-based classroom activities, and teaching this material in a classroom setting. This is an encouraging demonstration of a way to introduce programming to the K-12 teaching community without overloading in-service teachers or requiring additional course work for pre-service teachers.