The Impact of Computational Thinking on Louisiana Students’ STEM Outcomes

In 2019, a research team led by LSU Distinguished Professor of Physics Dr. Juana Moreno formed with two goals: to expand access to computer science education in Louisiana and to research the extent to which integrating computational thinking into a computer science course could impact students' STEM achievement and choices. The project, titled A modern approach to programming and mathematics, was supported by grants from the U.S. Department of Education's Education Innovation and Research (EIR) as well as the National Science Foundation (NSF). External evaluation by Education Northwest concluded that treatment had a significant positive impact on two targeted mathematics outcomes, and that the research met What Works Clearinghouse standards with reservations.

The research team developed seven secondary Computer Science Curricula, one of which focused exclusively on computational thinking, titled Introduction to Computational Thinking (ICT), intended to be taken concurrently with Algebra I. ICT was iteratively developed based on feedback from educators and industry professionals; however, every iteration maintained the core premise: ICT is a project and problem based learning course in which students create visual displays on a coordinate plane using a text-based Integrated Development Environment (IDE). Students who take ICT simultaneously learn to program, apply computational thinking practices, and express themselves creatively.

The team also developed an accessible, virtual teacher training model, designed to serve schools across Louisiana, from urban to rural communities, training teachers in a 2-3 week summer intensive, followed by year-long classroom support, and monthly community of practice meetings. Educators participated in intensive professional development before implementing the course and received ongoing coaching, instructional resources, and collaborative support throughout the school year.

During the project period, the team trained 157 teachers to offer computer science, who taught computer science at 69 Louisiana Schools, in 26 Louisiana Parishes, ultimately bringing computer science to 8,000+ Louisiana students. At a time when computer science education was drastically under served across Louisiana, the program helped expand access to trained and knowledgeable computer science educators in both urban and rural communities throughout the state.

External evaluators at Education Northwest reviewed longitudinal data from thousands of Louisiana computer science students, some of whom took ICT (treatment group), and some who took a generic computer science course that did not intentionally target computational thinking activities and skills (control group). The teachers who participated in the study offered year-long or semester-long (for schools on 4x4 schedule) computer science and ICT courses. It was determined that that students who took ICT concurrently with Algebra I scored 3.8 points higher on the Algebra I state test, and were 10% more likely to enroll in more advanced mathematics courses than their peers, indicating that bridging mathematics and computer science through computational thinking--the process of solving problems using concepts such as decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, and algorithm design—demonstrated success in strengthening student mathematical outcomes. Based on these findings, the evaluation recommends continued scaling and further study of the model to support STEM outcomes for Louisiana students and beyond.

The project provides evidence that mathematics achievement can be supported by integrating computational thinking practices into computer science coursework. The findings have implications for schools seeking to expand computer science opportunities without competing for instructional time in core academic subjects. Rather than treating computer science and mathematics support as separate, the study provides evidence that carefully designed computational thinking instruction can reinforce mathematical proficiency while helping students develop problem-solving and computing skills that are increasingly important in higher education and the workforce. The project produced multiple peer reviewed publications and conference presentations on this research, contributing to the growing body of research on computational thinking in K–12 education.

The final year of the project was, unfortunately, Dr. Moreno's final year of life. However, she survived to learn the final results from Education Northwest and to author the Ad Hoc report submitted as the project's final executive summary. Her passion for computations, and equity in education, lives on, not only through her physics students, but the products of her numerous and monumental research efforts. The ICT curriculum studied in this research is hosted through the teacher portal at www.brbytes.org.