Computationally Enhanced Toolkits For Children

Robotics toolkits and physical computing devices have been used in educational settings for many decades. Based on a techno-historical analysis of the development of 30 years of development of these devices, this monograph examines their design principles and presents a framework for the analysis and future design, based on the analytic construct of "selective exposure," which examines what is foregrounded or backgrounded in hardware and software design. Selective exposure has two sub-dimensions: usability, which examines how the material communicates rules for its use, and power, which looks at how cognitive and physical operations are mapped to each other, and how the design can make these connections more explicit. I show how these dimensions crucially impact what children can achieve with these materials, and make the case for the design of toolkits in synchrony with the child's developmental trajectory.

This book presents the outcomes of the 7th International Conference in Methodologies and Intelligent Systems for Technology Enhanced Learning (MIS4TEL'17), hosted by the Polytechnic of Porto, Portugal from 21 to 23 June 2017. Expanding on the topics of the previous conferences, it provided an open forum for discussing intelligent systems for technology enhanced learning (TEL) and their roots in novel learning theories, empirical methodologies for their design or evaluation, stand-alone and web-based solutions, and makerspaces. It also fostered entrepreneurship and business startup ideas, bringing together researchers and developers from industry, education and the academic world to report on the latest scientific research, technical advances and methodologies.

A diverse group of scholars redefine constructionism—introduced by Seymour Papert in 1980—in light of new technologies and theories. Constructionism, first introduced by Seymour Papert in 1980, is a framework for learning to understand something by making an artifact for and with other people. A core goal of constructionists is to respect learners as creators, to enable them to engage in making meaning for themselves through construction, and to do this by democratizing access to the world's most creative and powerful tools. In this volume, an international and diverse group of scholars examine, reconstruct, and evolve the constructionist paradigm in light of new technologies and theories. Taken together, their contributions show that constructionism has advanced in educational research and practice—and also that, in turn, researchers and practitioners can learn from constructionism how to foster learning in ways that respect learners' creativity and communities. The contributors examine how constructionist design can function within contexts ranging from school and home to virtual spaces; explore ways to support learners who have been under-resourced, overlooked, or oppressed; discuss learning by collaboration; and consider the implications of learning as a creative process of construction, exploring ways to support creative enterprises within the constraints of formal classrooms. Finally, leading visionaries imagine where constructionism, design, and research will go next Contributors Konstantin Aal, Dor Abrahamson, Edith K. Ackermann, Michael Ahmadi, Emma Anderson, Edward Baafi, Stephanie Benson, Laura Benton, Matthew Berland, Marina Umaschi Bers, Paulo Blikstein, Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy, Karen Brennan, Leah Buechley, Angela Calabrese Barton, Teresa Casort, David Cavallo, Kiera Chase, Alison Clark-Wilson, Sequoia L. Dance, Joshua A. Danish, Sayamindu Dasgupta, Michael Eisenberg, Noel Enyedy, Deborah A. Fields, Andrea Forte, Gayithri Jayathirtha, Brian Gravel, Sara M. Grimes, Idit Harel, Erica R. Halverson, Nathan Holbert, Celia Hoyles, Raquel Jimenez, Yasmin B. Kafai, Ivan Kalas, Anna Keune, Susan Klimczak, Eric Klopfer, Maximilian Krüger, Chronis Kynigos, Tim Kubik, Breanne K. Litts, Benjamin Mako Hill, Amon Millner, Andrés Monroy-Hernández, Richard Noss, Seymour Papert, Kylie Peppler, Judy Perry, Mitchel Resnick, Rebecca Reynolds, Ricarose Roque, Piers Saunders, Kristin A. Searle, Kimberly M. Sheridan, Arnan Sipitakiat, R. Benjamin Shapiro, Gary S. Stager, Gunnar Stevens, Vanessa Svihla, Edna Tan, Orkan Telhan, Naomi Thompson, Nalin Tutiyaphuengprasert, Anne Weibert, Michelle Hoda Wilkerson, Volker Wulf, Uri Wilensky, Jianwei Zhang

This book investigates multiple facets of the emerging discipline of Tangible, Embodied, and Embedded Interaction (TEI). This is a story of atoms and bits. We explore the interweaving of the physical and digital, toward understanding some of their wildly varying hybrid forms and behaviors. Spanning conceptual, philosophical, cognitive, design, and technical aspects of interaction, this book charts both history and aspirations for the future of TEI. We examine and celebrate diverse trailblazing works, and provide wide-ranging conceptual and pragmatic tools toward weaving the animating fires of computation and technology into evocative tangible forms. We also chart a path forward for TEI engagement with broader societal and sustainability challenges that will profoundly (re)shape our children’s and grandchildren’s futures. We invite you all to join this quest.

This book summarizes the results of Design Thinking Research carried out at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, USA and at the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam, Germany. Offering readers a closer look at Design Thinking, its innovation processes and methods, the book covers topics ranging from how to design ideas, methods and technologies, to creativity experiments and wicked problem solutions, to creative collaboration in the real world, and the interplay of designers and engineers. But the topics go beyond this in their detailed exploration of Design Thinking and its use in IT systems engineering fields, or even from a management perspective. The authors show how these methods and strategies actually work in companies, introduce new technologies and their functions, and demonstrate how Design Thinking can influence such unexpected topics as marriage. Furthermore, readers will learn how special-purpose Design Thinking can be used to solve wicked problems in complex fields. Thinking and devising innovations are fundamentally and inherently human activities – so is Design Thinking. Accordingly, Design Thinking is not merely the result of special courses nor of being gifted or trained: it’s a way of dealing with our environment and improving techniques, technologies and life.

This proceedings volume showcases the latest achievements in research and development in Educational Robotics presented at the 7th International Conference on Robotics in Education (RiE) held in Vienna, Austria, during April 14-15, 2016. The book offers a range of methodologies for teaching robotics and presents various educational robotics curricula. It includes dedicated chapters for the design and analysis of learning environments as well as evaluation means for measuring the impact of robotics on the students’ learning success. Moreover, the book presents interesting programming approaches as well as new applications, the latest tools, systems and components for using robotics. The presented applications cover the whole educative range, from elementary school to high school, college, university and beyond, for continuing education and possibly outreach and workforce development. The book provides a framework involving two complementary kinds of contributions: on the one hand on technical aspects and on the other hand on matters of didactic.

The field of robotics in a classroom context has seen an increase in global momentum recently because of its positive contributions in the teaching of science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and beyond. It is argued that when robotics and programming are integrated in developmentally appropriate ways, cognitive skill development beyond STEM can be achieved. The development of educational robotics has presented a plethora of ways in which students can be assisted in the classroom. Designing, Constructing, and Programming Robots for Learning highlights the importance of integrating robotics in educational practice and presents various ways for how it can be achieved. It further explains how 21st century skills and life skills can be developed through the hands-on experience of educational robotics. Covering topics such as computational thinking, social skill enhancement, and teacher training, this text is an essential resource for engineers, educational software developers, teachers, professors, instructors, researchers, faculty, leaders in educational fields, students, and academicians.

This collection, edited and written by the leading scholars and experts of innovation and maker education in Finland, introduces invention pedagogy, a research-based Finnish approach for teaching and learning through multidisciplinary, creative design and making processes in formal school settings. The book outlines the background of, and need for, invention pedagogy, providing various perspectives for designing and orchestrating the invention process while discussing what can be learned and how learning happens through inventing. In addition, the book introduces the transformative, school-level innovator agency needed for developing whole schools as innovative communities. Featuring informative case study examples, the volume explores the theoretical, pedagogical, and methodological implications for the research and practice of invention pedagogy in order to further the field and bring new perspectives, providing a new vision for schools for decades to come. Intermixing the results of cutting-edge research and best practice within STEAM-education and invention pedagogy, this book will be essential reading for researchers, students, and scholars of design and technology education, STEM education, teacher education, and learning sciences more broadly. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.