Chapter 5: Looming Code: A Model, Learning Activity, and Professional Development Approach for Computer Science Educators

As school librarians are asked to take on more responsibilities outside of their regular duties, teaching coding is one such responsibility that falls outside their area of expertise. In response to these challenges faced by school librar ians, this chapter proposes a model for designing computer science activities and instruction called Expansively-framed Unplugged. The chapter describes this model (also known as EfU) and demonstrates how it can be used to design activities such as Looming Code, a coding activity where students use Scratch to model existing patterns in a weaving as well as create new ones. This chapter describes the experience of an elementary school librarian as she attended professional development sessions to learn the activity and implemented it in two of her elementary school classes.