PE++: Exploring Opportunities for Connecting Computer Science and Physical Education in Elementary School

Around the world, many K-12 school systems are seeking ways to provide youth with computer science (CS) learning experiences. Often organizations aim to develop these opportunities by building capacity among science, technology, engineering, and mathematics teachers. In other instances, school may engage with language arts, history, and library teachers to teach computer science content. Seldom, however, do schools leverage the rich opportunities for integrating computer science with physical education (PE). This paper explores an on-going partnership among university researchers, and elementary school coding and PE teachers. During spring of 2021, the group designed and tested coding and physical movement related activities for students to complete across their PE and coding classes. The team iterated on those activities throughout 2021 and 2022. This paper highlights the utility of this unique collaboration and describes some of the initial designs that emerged. The paper also touches on preliminary evaluation of the activities, and notes some of the project team's plans for future iterations. Broadly speaking, the activities piqued student interest and helped advance new perspectives of themselves, CS, and their teachers.