UNDERSTANDING THE SOCIAL AND COGNITIVE EXPERIENCES OF CHILDREN INVOLVED IN TECHNOLOGY DESIGN PROCESSES

Technology has become ubiquitous not only in the lives of adults, but also in the lives of children. For every technology, there is a process by which it is designed. In many cases, children are involved in these design processes. This study examined the social and cognitive experiences of children who were integrally involved in a technology design process in partnership with adults. This research study employed a Vygotskian lens with a case study research method, to understand the cognitive and social experiences of child technology design partners over a one-year period of design and partnership. Artifact analysis, participant observation, and interviews were used to collect and analyze data. Results from this study demonstrated that children involved in technology design process in partnership with adults experienced social and cognitive experiences which fall into the areas of relationships, enjoyment, confidence, communication, collaboration, skills, and content

Comparing the creativity of children's design solutions based on expert assessment

LOBBI Netherlands Consortium Subscribe (Full Service) Register (Limited Service, Free) Login Search: The ACM Digital Library The Guide Feedback Comparing the creativity of children's design solutions based on expert assessment Full text Pdf (3.04 MB) Source Interaction Design and Children archive Proceedings of the 7th international conference on Interaction design and children table of contents Chicago, Illinois SESSION: Papers table of contents Pages 266-273 Year of Publication: 2008 ISBN:978-1-59593-994-4 Authors Binh Thang VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Wouter Sluis-Thiescheffer Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands Tilde Bekker Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands Berry Eggen Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands Arnold Vermeeren Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands Huib de Ridder Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands Publisher ACM New York, NY, USA Bibliometrics Downloads (6 Weeks): 26, Downloads (12 Months): 71, Citation Count: 0 Additional Information: abstract references index terms collaborative colleagues Tools and Actions: Review this Article Save this Article to a Binder Display Formats: BibTex EndNote ACM Ref DOI Bookmark: Use this link to bookmark this Article: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1463689.1463765 What is a DOI? ABSTRACT This paper describes a study in which the outcome of early design sessions with eight-to-twelve-year old children is assessed through expert judgment. Experts compare the outcomes of two early design methods: brainstorming and prototyping. The design case was to come up with a solution for incapacitated children that need to attend class from home. The hypothesis is that children will generate more creative design solutions when prototyping than when brainstorming, because we reason that prototyping requires a wider range of intelligences according to Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences. The outcome of the sessions is assessed on creativity and five explanatory criteria. The results show that a brainstorming method generates design solutions that are more creative. However, both methods produce creative design solutions; the brainstorming sessions generate more surprising and novel design solutions, the prototyping results are considered more relevant and workable