The spreadsheet is a great success in making programmable computational media available to a broad audience. Spreadsheets meet the user where they are – they can be used at various levels of computational sophistication. Bonnie Nardi explored this range, from those users who simply plug-in values, to those who define formulas, and finally to those who create new macros for those who define formulas (Nardi, 1993).

We probably would not say that those users who are simply plugging in values are developing “computational literacy” as diSessa defined it (diSessa, 2001). They are not developing the ability to read and express themselves in computational terms. They are not developing meta- representational competence (Disessa & Sherin, 2000).

In this paper, I describe a research agenda addressing the goal of reaching “CS for All,” including those users/students for whom spreadsheets are overly complicated. How could we lower the barriers to programming so that it is approachable by all students? What kinds of meta-tools might be used take to create those kinds of highly-usable programming activities?

Mark Guzdial is a Professor in Computer Science & Engineering and Engineering Education Research at the University of Michigan. He studies how people come to understand computing and how to make that more effective. He was one of the founders of the International Computing Education Research conference. He was one of the leads on the NSF alliance “Expanding Computing Education Pathways" which helped US states improve and broaden their computing education. He invented and has written several books on the “Media Computation” contextualized approach to computing education. With his wife and colleague, Barbara Ericson, he received the 2010 ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator award.  He is an ACM Distinguished Educator and a Fellow of the ACM. His most recent book is Learner-Centered Design of Computing Education: Research on Computing for Everyone (Morgan & Claypool, 2015). He received the 2019 ACM SIGCSE Outstanding Contributions to Education award.