Collaboration
A number of studies investigated alternative collaborative models
such as flexible and optional collaborative interactions (Kafai
& Harel, 1991b), consulting activities (Kafai & Harel,
1991a), on-line discussions (Evard, 1996b, 1998), and apprenticeship
models (Ching, 2000). Harel (1991) studied also different forms
of collaborative idea generation.
Gender
Prevalent gender differences
in students' software designs (Kafai, 1996a) or the absence thereof
(Kafai, 1998) have been another focus. In addition, Evard (1996a,
1998) examined different participation and conversation interactions
in electronic discussions and Ching, Kafai, and Marshall (2000)
looked at differential access to computational resources in mixed-gender
software design teams.
Games
Software design activities
for learning have studied the design of different artifacts such
as instructional software (Harel, 1991), games (Kafai, 1995),
and science simulations (Kafai, Ching, & Marshall, 1998).
Games design activities have been examined as a form of play (Kafai,
1998c), as classroom activities (Kafai, 1997a and b), and as improved
instructional design for learning mathematics (Kafai et al., 1998).
Planning
The complexity of the
software design activities has offered great opportunities to
study children's planning in context. Kafai (1996b) examined student
designers different planning approaches, whereas Marshall focused
on collaborative project management (2000).
Software Design
One of the initial premises
of software design for learning has been to promote a different
approach to programming instruction in schools (Harel, 1991; Harel
and Papert, 1990). We have also studied students in different
aspects of the software design enterprise such as consultants
(Kafai & Harel, 1991a) and as evaluators, testers and designers
(Kafai, 1998a).
Science
In science education,
studies have focused on the learning of astronomy (Kafai, Ching,
& Marshall, 1998), ocean life (Kafai, 1998a), and neuroscience
(Kafai & Ching, in review).
Mathematics
In mathematics education,
the learning of fractions (Harel, 1990, 1991; Kafai, 1995, 1997a
and b) has been the central focus of investigations. Kafai et
al., (1998) compared the fraction game design of teachers and
students.
BOOK PUBLICATIONS
Harel, I. (1991). Children
designers. Norwood: Ablex.
Harel, I. & Papert, S. (1991) (Eds.), Constructionism.
Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Kafai, Y. B. (1995). Minds
in play: Computer game design as a context for children's learning.
Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Kafai, Y. B. & Resnick, M. (1996) (Eds.), Constructionism
in practice: Designing, thinking, and learning in a digital world.
Mawhaw, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
ARTICLES AND CHAPTERS
Harel, I. (1990). Children as software Designers: A Constructionist Approach for Learning Mathematics. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 9(1), 3-93.
Harel, I., & Papert, S. (1990). Software design as a learning
environment. Interactive Learning Environment, 1(1), 132.
Kafai, Y. B., & Harel, I. (1991a). Children's learning through
consulting: When mathematical ideas, programming knowledge, instructional
design, and playful discourse are intertwined. In I. Harel &
S. Papert (Eds.), Constructionism (pp. 85110). Norwood,
NJ: Ablex.
Kafai, Y. B., & Harel, I. (1991b). Learning through design
and teaching: Exploring social and collaborative aspects of Constructionism.
In I. Harel & S. Papert (Eds.), Constructionism (pp.
111140). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Kafai, Y. B. (1996a). Gender differences in children's constructions
of video games. In Patricia M. Greenfield & Rodney R. Cocking
(Eds.), Interacting with video (pp. 3966). Norwood,
NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation. Also in Yasmin B. Kafai and
Mitchel Resnick (1996) (Eds.), Constructionism in practice:
Designing, thinking, and learning in a digital world (pp.
97111). Mawhaw, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Kafai, Y. B. (1996b). Learning through making games: Children's
development of design strategies in the creation of a computational
artifact. In Y. Kafai & M. Resnick (Eds.), Constructionism
in Practice (pp. 7196). Mawhaw, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates.
Kafai, Y. B. (1997a). Learning through artifacts: Communities
of practice in classrooms. Journal of Artificial Intelligence
and Society, 10, 89-100.
Kafai, Y. B. (1997b). Designing software for learning Logo. Computers
in Schools, 14(1/2), 71-82.
Kafai, Y. B. (1998a). Children as software users, designers and
evaluators. In A. Druin (Ed.), The design of children's interactive
technologies (pp. 123145). San Francisco: Morgan Kaufman
Publishers.
Kafai, Y. B. (1998b). Video game designs by children: Consistency
and variability of gender differences. In J. Cassell & H.
Jenkins (Eds.), From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer
Games (pp. 90114). Boston, MA: MIT Press. Also in M.
Kinder (Ed.) (2000), Kids' media culture (pp.293316).
Durham: Duke University Press.
Kafai, Y. B. (1998c). Play and technology: Revised realities and
potential perspectives. In D. P. Fromberg, & D. Bergen, (Eds.),
Play from birth to twelve: Contexts, perspectives, and meanings
(pp. 9399). New York: Garland Publishing.
Kafai, Y. B., Franke, M., Ching, C. C., & Shih, J. (1998).
Games as interactive learning environments fostering teachers'
and students' mathematical thinking. International Journal
of Computers for Mathematical Learning, 3(2), 149-193.
Kafai, Y. B., Ching, C. C., & Marshall, S. (1998). Children
as designers of educational multimedia software. Computers
& Education, 29(2/3), 117-126.
Kafai, Y. B. & Sutton, S. (1999). Elementary students' home
computer and Internet use: Current trends and issues. Journal
of Educational Computing Research, 21(3), 345-362.
Kafai, Y. B., & Ching,
C. C. (accepted with revisions). Talking science/Talking design:
Learning through design as a context for children's scientific
discourse. The Journal of the Learning Sciences.
Evard, M. (1996a). "So
Please Stop, Thank You": Girls Online. In Lynn Cherny and
Elizabeth Weise (Eds.), Wired Women: Gender and Social Reality
in Cyberspace (pp. 188-204). Seattle: Seal Press. Also in:
Evard, M. (1996b). A Community of Designers: Learning through
Exchanging Questions and Answers. In Y. Kafai and M. Resnick (Eds.),
Constructionism in Practice: Rethinking the Roles of Technology
in Learning (pp. 223-240). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates.
Ching, C. C., Kafai, Y. B., & Marshall, S. (2000). Spaces
for change: Gender and technology access in collaborative software
design projects. Journal for Science Education and Technology
9(1), 4556. Also in N. Yelland & A. Rubin
(in press). Ghosts in the machine: Women study women and technology.
New York: Peter Land Publishers.
DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS
Harel, I. (1988). Software
design for learning: Children's construction of meaning for fractions
and Logo programming. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. MIT
Media Laboratory, Cambridge, MA.
Kafai, Y. B. (1993). Minds in Play: Computer Game Design as
a Context for Children's Learning. Unpublished doctoral dissertation.
Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA.
Evard, M. (1998). Twenty Heads Are Better Than One: Communities
of Children as Virtual Experts. Unpublished doctoral dissertation.
MIT Media Laboratory, Cambridge, MA.
Marshall, S. (2000). Planning in Context. Unpublished doctoral
dissertation. University of California, Los Angles, CA.
Ching, C. C. (2000). Apprenticeship, Learning and Technology:
Children as Oldtimers and Newcomers in the Culture of Learning
through Design. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University
of California, Los Angles, CA.