Civic Identities, Online Technologies: From Designing Civics Curriculum to Supporting Civic Experiences

Part of the Volume on Civic Life Online: Learning How Digital Media Can Engage Youth.Youth today are often criticized for their lack of civic participation and involvement in political life. Technology has been blamed, amongst many other causes, for fostering social isolation and youth's retreat into a private world disconnected from their communities. However, current research is beginning to indicate that these might be inaccurate perceptions. The Internet has provided new opportunities to create communities that extend beyond geographic boundaries, to engage in civic and volunteering activities across local and national frontiers, to learn about political life, and to experience the challenges of democratic participation. How do we leverage youth's interest in new technologies by developing technology-based educational programs to promote civic engagement? This chapter explores this question by proposing socio-technical design elements to be considered when developing technology-rich experiences. It presents a typology to guide the design of Internet-based interventions, taking into account both the affordances of the technology and the educational approach to the use of the technology. It also presents a pilot experience in a northeastern university that offered a pre-orientation program in which incoming freshman designed a three-dimensional virtual campus of the future and developed new policies and programs to strengthen the relationship between college campus and neighbor communities

Identity construction environments : the design of computational tools for exploring a sense of self and moral values

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2001.Includes bibliographical references (p. 204-212).We live in a society where concepts of self, community and what is right and wrong are constantly changing. This makes it particularly challenging for young people to construct a sense of self and to identify and develop their most cherished personal and moral values. It also puts pressure on schools and society to help them do so. This thesis explores how new technologies can be used to create environments explicitly designed to help young people explore their inner worlds. I coined the term identity construction environments (ICE) to refer to computational tools purposefully designed with the goal of helping young people explore different aspects of the self, in particular personal and moral values. My contribution in this thesis involves three dimensions: theory, design and empirical research. At the theoretical level, I propose a framework through which people can think and learn about identity as a complex entity embracing multiple and contradictory values. At the design level, I describe an evolutionary process of building and investigating the use of three identity construction environments which are precursors to the one that is at the center of the empirical investigation described in this thesis.(cont.) The three-dimensional multi-user environment I call Zora engages learners in the design of a graphical virtual city and its social organization. At the empirical level I present two studies of young people using Zora: a multicultural group of teenagers in an intensive summer workshop, and young patients in the Dialysis Unit at Boston Children's Hospital. Despite their diversity, both populations demonstrated a desire and need to explore issues of identity and values. The first study looks at how teens used Zora to express their sense of self, to create a participatory community to discuss ethical and moral issues, and to explore the relationship between personal identity and moral values. The second study focuses on how pediatric patients used Zora to escape the harshness of the dialysis treatment and to create a network to facilitate mutual support and new kinds of interactions with hospital staff. This thesis offers a theoretical framework and methodology for education in multicultural, moral and democratic values and for the potential role of computational environments in psychotherapeutic interventions.Marina Umaschi Bers.Ph.D

Soft interfaces for interactive storytelling : learning about identity and communication

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Media Arts & Sciences, 1997.Includes bibliographical references (p. 99-102).by Marina Umaschi Bers.M.S

Robotics in the early childhood classroom: learning outcomes from an 8-week robotics curriculum in pre-kindergarten through second grade

Abstract In recent years there has been an increasing focus on the missing ''T'' of technology and ''E'' of engineering in early childhood STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) curricula. Robotics offers a playful and tangible way for children to engage with both T and E concepts during their foundational early childhood years. This study looks at N = 60 children in pre-kindergarten through second grade who completed an 8-week robotics curriculum in their classrooms using the KIWI robotics kit combined with a tangible programming language. Children were assessed on their knowledge of foundational robotics and programming concepts upon completion of the curriculum. Results show that beginning in pre-kindergarten, children were able to master basic robotics and programming skills, while the older children were able to master increasingly complex concepts using the same robotics kit in the same amount of time. Implications for developmentally appropriate design of technology, as well as structure and pace of robotics curricula for young children are addressed

Narrative Construction Kits: "Who am I? Who are you? What are we?"

This paper proposes narrative construction kits as powerful tools to help children and teenagers explore identity and values as dynamic complex constructions. The metaphor of a construction kit suggests that users can combine building blocks (e.g. aspects of the self), program them with storytelling behaviors and try them out in interactions with others. By integrating storytelling and computation these kits also support the development of knowledge about narrative and programming. Three examples of narrative construction kits designed and tested by the author with children and teenagers are described: SAGE, the webbased Kaleidostories and the 3D graphical multi-user environment Zora. Differences and similarities, design principles and lessons learned are presented. Introduction Narrative construction kits are computational environments that allow children to put together different elements of their lives through story telling. The construction kit metaphor refers to an ..

Pixel-Bit

Título, resumen y palabras clave en español e inglésResumen basado en el de la publicaciónMonográfico con el título: “In memoriam Dr. Ángel Pío González Soto”Se describe un enfoque pedagógico, Codificación en otro lenguaje (CAL), para enseñar programación y pensamiento computacional en la primera infancia. El plan de estudios CAL conecta ideas importantes de la disciplina de la informática con ideas de la alfabetización de una manera apropiada para el desarrollo de los niños de 4 a 8 años de edad. CAL es gratuito y puede utilizarse con dos entornos de programación disponibles para los niños más pequeños: la aplicación gratuita ScratchJr y el kit de robótica KIBO, que no requiere teclados ni pantallas. A través de 24 lecciones centradas en libros, CAL hace hincapié en el juego creativo y la autoexpresión, situando el aprendizaje de la programación como el dominio de un nuevo lenguaje simbólico. Además, CAL proporciona oportunidades para el desarrollo socio-emocional en el contexto de un entorno de aprendizaje basado en el juego colaborativo, un juego de codificación, en el que hay una exploración intencional de los valores éticos y morales y la promoción intencional de comportamientos positivos y sus fortalezas.ES