This paper reviews the literature on emergent technologies from the field of science education. In an effort to summarize the current state of research, and identify specific types of technologies that have recently “emerged” in K‐12 science classrooms, we review papers featured in leading science education venues in recent years. The reported trends suggest that, as a field, science education has become increasingly characterized by hermeneutic and alterity relations wherein the physical world is experienced indirectly through technological representations or has become secondary to students' experiences as it is “pushed aside” by emergent technological artifacts such as computer simulations, virtual labs, mobile devices, robots, games, and digital photography and drawing. As a result, science educators are faced with the challenge of helping students view technological instruments not as transparent and neutral devices that simply “depict reality” (naïve instrumentalism) and reveal what is “really” there (naïve realism), but as powerful epistemic tools that help co‐constitute the reality being investigated, often (re)shaping what counts as “real” in revolutionary ways. It is argued that new technologies do not actually emerge in sociocultural vacuum and that more attention needs to be been given to sociocultural aspects of technological innovation in science classrooms.

We describe a three-stage model of computing instruction beginning with a simple, highly scaffolded programming environment (Kodu) and progressing to more challenging frameworks (Alice and Lego NXT-G). In moving between frameworks, students explore the similarities and differences in how concepts such as variables, conditionals, and looping are realized. This can potentially lead to a deeper understanding of programming, bringing students closer to true computational thinking. Some novel strategies for teaching with Kodu are outlined. Finally, we briefly report on our methodology and select preliminary results from a pilot study using this curriculum with students ages 10-17, including several with disabilities.

We have developed a CS1 curriculum that uses a robotics context to teach introductory programming [1]. Core to our approach is that each student has their own personal robot. Our robot and software have been specifically developed to support the needs of a CS1 curriculum. We frame traditional problems (robot control) in terms that are personal, relevant, and fun. Initial trial classes have shown that our approach is successful and adaptable.

The Disciplinary Commons (DC) is a model of teacher professional development that encourages members of the group to reflect upon their teaching practices, develop a community, and, more broadly, to become more scholarly about their teaching. The DC involves a series of monthly meetings where university faculty members examine their course in detail while producing a course portfolio. Evaluation of the early DC's suggests that they successfully created a sense of community and sharing among the participants. We have adapted the original model to a new audience, high school computing teachers. The adapted model maintains the key aspects of the original model while adding two new, important goals for this new audience: improving recruitment and creating community. The high school teacher audience particularly needed strategies for recruiting students and was in greater need of community. We present evaluation evidence suggesting that we achieved the design goals in a replicable model, including a substantial increase (over 300%) in recruiting students.

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