Google grant will allow Georgia State University to enhance computer literacy

ATLANTA — Georgia State University associate professor Lauren Margulieux received $234,268 in funding from Google to work with teacher education faculty members at the university on incorporating computer science lessons into their curriculum for all K-12 grades and then study how these lessons are used in classrooms throughout Georgia.

The grant will be led by the new Snap Inc. Center for Computer and Teacher Education, a center housed in Georgia State’s College of Education & Human Development that prepares educators to integrate CS into all disciplines and works to diversify the CS education field.

Margulieux, director of the Snap Inc. Center, and her team are using the funding to establish the Computing Integration Faculty Fellowship Program. Beginning this fall, faculty fellows from different teacher education disciplines will spend the 2023-2024 academic year learning more about CS as a tool to solve problems in their primary discipline.

The faculty fellows will co-design computing integration activities for their programs’ pre-service and in-service teachers. They will then incorporate these activities into their coursework and the teachers’ student teaching experiences.

Each year, the center will choose new faculty members from various teacher education disciplines for the yearlong fellowship program. The following College of Education & Human Development faculty members were selected as inaugural fellows:

♦ Daniel Edelen, assistant professor in elementary mathematics education;

♦ Patrick Enderle, associate professor in high school science education;

♦ Naomi Jessup, assistant professor in elementary mathematics education;

♦ Sue Kasun, associate professor in middle school language education;

♦ Xiaolu Liu, assistant professor in elementary physical education;

♦ Chenyi Zhang, associate professor in Pre-K literacy education.

The Computing Integration Faculty Fellowship Program will create a ripple effect, and Margulieux estimates that the fellowship program’s first five years will impact 22 faculty members, 1,830 teachers and 109,800 students. This will be accomplished by having faculty members build their CS knowledge and skills through CS learning curricula, such as Google’s CS First or Code.org’s CS Connections and then instruct future teachers on how to incorporate CS into their lessons. These teachers will then go on to teach their students key CS skills.

“Google is proud to call Georgia home with our new office in Atlanta and data center in Douglas County,” Lilyn Hester, Google’s head of external affairs — southeast, said. “As an extension of our work in the community, we are strongly committed to expanding access to computer science education in the region.

“We’re excited to support the inaugural faculty fellows who are on the front lines in providing current and future educators with the most up-to-date computing instruction that will enhance careers for many years to come.”

To complement the faculty fellows program, Margulieux will work with Bryan Cox and Lavita Williams, computer science specialists from the Georgia Department of Education, to examine how CS activities are used to support learning in non-CS classrooms. The project will compare activities from throughout Georgia’s K-12 schools, particularly to explore differences among districts and regions and identify schools that need more support.

“Our goal is ultimately to teach all K-12 students computational literacy so that they can use computers to solve problems in their lives,” Margulieux said. “Working with teacher preparation faculty means that new teachers learn these skills year after year, and their students learn computational literacy year after year. The initial investment has a sustainable, compounding approach.”

This recent grant brings Google’s awards to Georgia State University at more than $600,000.

Special Photo: GSU