Stitching Codeable Circuits: High School Students\u27 Learning About Circuitry and Coding with Electronic Textiles

Learning about circuitry by connecting a battery, light bulb, and wires is a common activity in many science classrooms. In this paper, we expand students’ learning about circuitry with electronic textiles, which use conductive thread instead of wires and sewable LEDs instead of lightbulbs, by integrating programming sensor inputs and light outputs and examining how the two domains interact.We implemented an electronic textiles unit with 23 high school students ages 16–17 years who learned how to craft and code circuits with the LilyPad Arduino, an electronic textile construction kit. Our analyses not only confirm significant increases in students’ understanding of functional circuits but also showcase students’ ability in designing and remixing program code for controlling circuits. In our discussion, we address opportunities and challenges of introducing codeable circuit design for integrating maker activities that include engineering and computing into classrooms

Pair Physical Computing: High School Students’ Practices and Perceptions of Collaborative Coding and Crafting With Electronic Textiles

Background and Context: Physical computing involves complex negotiations of multiple, on and off-screen tasks, which calls for research on how to best structure collaborative work to ensure equitable learning. Objective: We focus on how pairs self-organized their multi-domain tasks in physical computing, and how their social interactions supported or inhibited productive collaboration. Method: We conducted a 30+ hour physical computing workshop where high school student pairs created interactive electronic textile signs. We recorded how students shared or allocated their tasks in fieldnotes and looked for reasons why this occurred through student post-interviews. Findings: Students worked collaboratively on project planning, which involved discussion and decision-making, but individually during project construction, which involved physical execution of their plan. The quality of students’ social interaction was seemingly linked to how viewed their partner as a socioemotional resource. Implications: Inherent qualities of the different domains of physical computing and how students view their partners in socioemotional terms can shape the productivity of student collaborative learning

Computational Circuitry: High School Students Code Circuits in Electronic Textile Designs

Purpose. As digital and maker technologies proliferate our lives, there is a growing interest in integrating computational thinking (CT) in K-12 curriculum. Our study explores the use of electronic textiles (e-textiles) designs that use conductive thread and sewable microcontrollers to build wearable circuits to enable learning at the unique intersection of crafting, circuitry, and coding. This provides a promising example of the type of STEM and CT learning called for in national reports and initiatives (Katehi, Pearson, & Feder 2009; Smith, 2016; Wing, 2006). In this paper, we expand upon students’ learning about circuitry by also looking at their understanding of computational circuitry, or circuits whose sensor inputs and light outputs are controlled by code.Theoretical Frame. With the emergence of new maker tools and materials, circuitry teaching and learning has expanded to include other conductive materials such as conductive thread, sensors, and microcontrollers (Buechley, Eisenberg & Elumeze, 2007). Some researchers (e.g., Peppler & Glosson, 2013) have examined how to assess circuitry learning with e-textile materials, however, there is still a gap in our understanding of how students produce computational circuits, a unique type of design where both the blueprint of the circuit and the structure of the code are aligned such that the LEDs, sensors and switches perform desired behaviors. Understanding computational circuits is a key computational skill in producing functional e-textiles.Methods. We conducted this study with a class of 23 high school STEM juniors (4 boys, 19 girls, 16-17 years old) at a charter school in a northeastern metropolitan city. During fifteen workshop periods, student pairs collaboratively constructed an interactive, e-textiles sign for the school that would be exhibited in a high-traffic area of the school.Data. All students participated in a series of circuitry and coding tasks, including designing a simple circuit, as well as reading, designing, and remixing a computational circuit. Two of these were administered in pre- and post-interviews, while three were included only in post-interviews. In analysis, we generated a quantitative coding scheme appropriate for each task based on the skills and knowledge the task targeted, and conducted statistical analyses on the pre-post tasks.Results. After completing the e-textiles workshop, students significantly increased in their ability to design a functional simple circuit and read a computational circuit compared to their pre-task performance. In the post tasks, students demonstrated more complex skills that involved designing computational circuits, as well as debugging and remixing code for computational circuits. Specifically, our final post task enabled us tease apart these different skills while guiding students through a natural progression of difficulty.Significance. The present study contributes to the growing body of research exploring CT in maker activities and designing tools to assess that learning. Our work expands maker designs by highlighting the value of learning at the intersection between traditional disciplines and CT, where we can focus future research. Further, the codeable circuits tasks we present in this study is a first example of how interdisciplinary, multimodal CT assessments could look

Collaborative E-crafting: Adopting Collectivistic Orientations Toward E-Textile Maker Projects

Purpose and Theoretical Frame. As maker activities are increasingly finding their way into schools, practitioners and researchers are searching to find productive ways to incorporate these previously unstructured and interest-driven activities into the formal environment of the classroom. Maker activities, often requiring knowledge of several domain areas and draw heavily on collaborations between participants to support their learning and design processes. This can be seen, for example, within the context of robotics team challenges (Sullivan, 2008) and pair programming (Salleh, Mendes, & Grundy, 2011). Drawing on these models, this study explores the use of collaborative pair arrangements in e-textiles, which we call collaborative e-crafting. In doing so, we hoped to provide a balance between the structure of traditional classroom pedagogy and the more loosely arranged social structures of makerspaces that foster a sense of agency for participants.As a first step to understand how this collaborative arrangement functions in a hybrid design space, our research focused on the role distribution and communication strategies in student pairs, based on key features of pair programming. We also adapted Triandis’ (1995) individualistic (narrowly focused on an individual’s trajectory) and collectivistic (broadly focused on the community trajectory) orientations toward identity as an overarching frame for how students conceptualized their agency and related to their peers within their pairs.Methods. We conducted an e-textiles workshop with an ethnically diverse class of 23 high school STEM juniors (4 boys, 19 girls, 16-17 years old) at a charter school in a northeastern metropolitan city. During fifteen 90-minute sessions, student pairs collaboratively constructed an interactive, e-textiles sign to be exhibited in a high-traffic area of the school. Students were assigned to work in pairs, though student interaction was not prescribed by instructors.Data. We collected a range of qualitative data focusing on pairs’ interactions and work. In addition to collecting artifacts throughout the design process, we conducted pre- and post-interviews with each student and collected fieldnotes each day. We present two case studies developed from post-interviews, fieldnotes, analytic memos, and artifacts highlighting the distinct role-taking and communication styles we identified.Results. Student pairs tended to have a greater sense of agency and ownership when they adopted a collectivistic rather than individualistic orientation toward their peer and project. Consider Caroline and Joy who adopted a collectivistic attitude, which resulted in an equitable approach to their work and a shared effort to understand the multiple domains in e-crafting. Conversely, Melanie and Jasmine took an individualistic orientation by essentially siloing themselves within their separate roles and domains and taking minimal ownership over their project. These two pairs anchor a continuum from highly collectivistic to highly individualistic on which the rest of the class falls.Significance. This study provides insights for how to structure collaborative making activities, like e-textiles, and highlights areas of peer interaction requiring additional support, a key area for future research. Additionally, our study challenges the fields of maker research and collaborative learning to consider a collectivistic perspective to frame how we understand agency in maker activitie

Collaborative Maker Activities in the Classroom: Case Studies of High School Student Pairs\u27 Interactions in Designing Electronic Textiles

The majority of electronic textile (e-textile) activities for beginners focus on making and coding individual projects rather than collaborative designs, which often excludes potentially fruitful collaborations. In this paper, we report on findings from an e-textile workshop in which high school youth (16-17 years old) worked in pairs to design interactive display pieces using LilyPad Arduino, LEDs, sensors, conductive thread and fabric. Drawing on artifacts, fieldnotes, and interviews, we report on the range of work approaches that students took toward collaborative e-crafting. Specifically, we examine key aspects of this collaboration: pairs\u27 role negotiations and communication strategies. Finally, we discuss the challenges and opportunities of adopting collaborative e-crafting when introducing coding and making activities in classrooms

Reflections on Pair E-Crafting: High School Students’ Approaches to Collaboration in Electronic Textiles Projects

Pair programming is one of the most popular and successful collaborative learning activities in computer science education wherein students organized in pairs alternate between writing and guiding coding on the screen. In this paper, we examine a complementary approach by taking pair programming into a tangible space where pairs coded lights and sensors of an Arduino-based microcontroller, designed programmable and functional circuits, and sewed an electronic textile. We analyzed the reflections of 23 students, who worked in pairs over a series of fifteen 90-minute workshop sessions, about their experiences collaborating and communicating across the different domains of e-textiles creation (e.g., design, circuitry, coding, and crafting). Student perceptions highlighted potential causes of these interactions across these multiple domains, which are distinct from pair programming activities. In the discussion, we address how these perceptions inform the design and development of more equitable pair e-crafting arrangements

Understanding High School Students\u27 Reading, Remixing, and Writing Codeable Circuits for Electronic Textiles

In this paper, we examine students? learning about computing by designing, coding, and remixing electronic textiles with sensor inputs and light outputs. We conducted a workshop with 23 high school students ages 16-17 years who learned how to craft and code circuits with the LilyPad Arduino, an electronic textile construction kit. Our analyses not only confirm significant increases in students\u27 understanding of functional circuits but also showcase students\u27 ability in reading, remixing and writing program code for controlling circuits. In our discussion, we address opportunities and challenges of introducing codeable circuit design for integrating maker activities that include engineering and computing into K-12 classrooms

Science Lab as Maker Studio: Creating and Critiquing Electronic Textiles in High School Class

The push for a more widespread implementation of maker activities into K-12 classrooms requires adaptation of out-of-school makerspaces and practices. In this paper, we draw on research that has emerged around the studio model that brings critique practices from art and architecture into computing class. As an illustration, we examined a maker studio in which a class of 23 high school students worked in teams and with art students to develop an interactive electronic textile design. Our analyses focus on how the structure of critiques, presentations, and reflections in the maker studio impacted students’ design process. In the discussion, we address what we learned about how these features should be integrated with programming activities

A Maker Studio Model for High School Classrooms: The Nature and Role of Critique in an Electronic Textiles Design Project

Background/Context: Though the maker movement has proliferated in out-of-school settings, there remains a design challenge of how to effectively integrate maker activities into K–12 classrooms. In other contexts, though, creative design and production have historically been successfully integrated in classrooms through studio models common to the arts, architecture, and engineering. Purpose/Objective: In this paper, we leverage the features and practices of studio models from arts, architecture, and engineering education to integrate maker activities in a high school classroom. Within this Maker Studio model, students focus on designing a computational artifact and engage in practices more predominantly found in studio arts, architecture, and engineering classes such as feedback, critique, and reflection. Research Design: We conducted a case study of how a class of 23 high school students participating in a STEM elective class in teams partnered with art students to develop an interactive installation. Our analyses focus on how the structure of the feedback, critique, and reflections in the Maker Studio informed and shaped students’ design processes. Conclusions: We discuss affordances and implications of recognizing studio practices (particularly critique) as design features of maker activities, especially in high school classroom contexts, and present the Maker Studio as a viable model for integration of maker activities in classroom environments. We also characterize key features of the Maker Studio model, including the following: appreciation and support for maker processes in addition to or even above final products, integration of various structures for giving and receiving critique throughout the design process, support for interdisciplinary and collaborative project work, and engagement with diverse perspectives and expertise during critiques