Anchoring Computing in Social Studies Through Co-Designed Objects-to-Think-With Global
Brazil has recently advanced efforts to integrate computing into K-12 education through new national standards. This movement creates opportunities but also raises challenges about how computing can connect meaningfully to other subjects. One promising approach is to design learning experiences where students build computational artifacts to reason about disciplinary concepts. This poster reports early results from a multi-year collaboration with Brazilian teachers to integrate computing into middle-school history and geography. Through co-design sessions and classroom trials with more than 20 teachers, we explored ways to enrich disciplinary inquiry while keeping computing aligned with local curriculum goals. A key outcome is the identification of four “objects-to-think-with” — tangible artifacts that anchor social studies concepts and computing practices. These include computational graphs to compare historical revolts, interactive maps for testing alternative regionalizations of the Americas, a classroom meteorological station for monitoring local climate data, and interactive chatbots that present reimagined medieval timelines. Each object bridges disciplinary reasoning with computing ideas such as modeling, data representation, and visualization. We outline the co-design process that led to these objects and illustrate their classroom use, offering a practical strategy for teachers seeking to implement Brazil’s new computing standards in authentic ways.