Research projects
Dissertation project
For my dissertation, I developed a workshop for a STEM program at a local science museum where first-year participants complete a series of maker projects in which they "restory" dominant societal narratives related to identity, codes (both social and technical), and computing technology. Youth design and create (1) paper circuits unpacking social codes they are familiar with, (2) electronic textiles (e-textiles) wristbands representing identity labels they affirm about themselves, and (3) interactive, e-textiles quilt patches reimagining or "restorying" dominant narratives about computing technology.
Research assistantship projects as part of the lab of Dr. Yasmin Kafai lab (to see more, visit her website here)
The Hour of Code provides brief stand-alone activities to introduce K-12 learners to computing concepts and applications. While these activities have successfully reached hundreds of millions of students around the globe, there are calls for more creative and critical engagement with computing than currently available. With CodeQuilt we developed an activity in which middle and high school youth were asked to design Scratch projects that engage with issues on who and what is computing. Projects were posted in a Scratch Studio and then pulled together for a quilt-like web display. In follow-up research in Summer 2021, we organized co-design workshops to get youth input on themes and Scratch designs.
Code Quilt
"Restorying Quilts" engages high school youth in interrogating dominant narratives about computer science through collaborative, electronic textile quilt-making. Youth craft and code interactive quilt patches that are digitally "stitched" into a collaborative artifact, with each patch reimagining CS from youths’ perspectives, particularly regarding what CS is, who can participate in CS, and how CS is done. Take a look at the TFI STEM Scholars Digital Restorying Quilt.
Restorying Quilts
The learn.design.bio workshops and conferences brought together designers and educators to discuss novel learning platforms and activities to advance biological design and computing education at K12. Findings from these meetings and discussions have been summarized in this workshop report.
BioDesign Workshops
Making e-textiles artifacts provides a rich context for learning but offer few opportunities for students to articulate and reflect on their acts of learning and making. Yet beyond artifact creation, acts of communication enable novice makers to reflect on their learning and share their ideas and resources with larger creative communities. In several studies we iterated on the design of portfolio formats to support computational communication alongside students’ electronic textile productions.