Untitled Document

RESEARCH

Kids' Interactive Design Studio is a research group at the UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies under the direction of Yasmin Kafai dedicated to design, implement and explore computer-rich environments for play and learning for young children.

SOFTWARE DESIGN FOR LEARNING This research project was started in the mid-80's by Idit Harel at the MIT Media Laboratory. An annotated overview of all the papers published and theses written in the past 15 years. The studies have been written up in several reports among them Playing with our Future (NSF Frontiers, 1998) and Infoactive (Center for Media Education, 1998) and most recently in the Harvard Education Letter (2000).

Digital Apprenticeships

Electronic Playworlds

Tech-Savvy Girls

Planning for Design

Teachers as Designers

DIGITAL ARCHIVES FOR AND BY KIDS

While many researchers are discussing issues of information seeking behavior in the context of educational Internet activities, we focused instead on the neglected aspect of information construction. After all, people are not only avid consumers of information but they are also constant producers of information. With my colleague Dr. Anne Gilliland-Swetland, a digital archivist, I studied how teachers and students created, described, and evaluated historical and contemporary archives and how this integrated historical perspectives in science learning. Currently a national effort is on its way to develop universal description categories for digital archive materials. While these descriptors may work fine for professional archive users, they pose particular problems for non-traditional users such as young children and teachers. Before the advent of digital archives this might have been a negligible problem given that most archives are out of reach for children and teachers. But now that many archival materials are being digitized and made accessible to larger group of users, often with an educational focus, this has become a pressing issue. We found in our research that rather small amounts of digitized materials, if carefully chosen according to our criteria, can be sufficient. We also developed criteria in our research for selecting which materials of an archive should be digitized and made accessible for educational purposes. More information about the grant from the National Science Foundation can be found at a related Website.

Digital Portfolio Archives for Science Learning

Information Designs

MORAL COMPASS IN THE DIGITAL LANDSCAPE

With computer and Internet changes occurring in both the technological and social domains, and problems being identified on almost a daily basis, there is a prevailing mood of uncertainty regarding how to apply rules and standards. There is confusion regarding what can be legitimately copied from the Internet, since information is available through the public domain and there is ambiguity regarding what has been copywritten, since most of the laws do not yet pertain to the "liquid intangibles of the virtual world". Many adults reflect this uncertainty in their responses to and judgements regarding ethical issues, often relying on either their personal values, or rules set forth by management. Issues of fair use, copyright and intellectual property are also appearing in classrooms, as computers play an increasingly prominent role in children's education. How do young children reason about the adequacy of their interactions in the digital domain?

Children's Moral Reasoning in the Digital Domain

COMPUTERS@HOME

To date, the major emphasis among educational researchers and practitioners has been on the development and implementation of educational technologies within formal learning environments such as schools, colleges and universities and informal settings such as museums, summer camps and afterschool programs. Most of this prior work has neglected to address adequately educational technologies in yet another important learning environment, the family home. While computers at home in the 80's were only available to a minority of families, in recent years the numbers have increased dramatically: Currently, over 50 percent of American households count a computer among their possessions in use for work, entertainment or educational purposes. What do young children do with computers at their homes? How can computers at home be connected with computer-based learning activities in schools?

Issues around Children's Home Computing

MESSAGES ON THE WEB

Children's Understanding of Advertising on Educational WWW-Sites


KAFAI Biography I Resume I Professional Statement I Publications and Presentations I KIDS RESEARCH I KIDS People I KIDS Archive I

Yasmin B. Kafai I University of California, Los Angeles Graduate I School of Education & Information Studies I 2331 Moore Hall Mailbox 951521 I Los Angeles, CA 90095-1521 I Email: kafai@gseis.ucla.edu I Phone: 310.206.8150 I Fax: 310.206.6293

ybk - 09.15.00

SOFTWARE DESIGN FOR LEARNING	This research project was started in the mid-80's by Idit Harel at the MIT Media Laboratory. An annotated overview of all the papers published and theses written in the past 15 years. The studies have been written up in several reports among them Playing with our Future (NSF Frontiers, 1998) and Infoactive (Center for Media Education, 1998) and most recently in the Harvard Education Letter (2000).
	Digital Apprenticeships
	Electronic Playworlds
	Tech-Savvy Girls
	Planning for Design
	Teachers as Designers
DIGITAL ARCHIVES FOR AND BY KIDS	While many researchers are discussing issues of information seeking behavior in the context of educational Internet activities, we focused instead on the neglected aspect of information construction. After all, people are not only avid consumers of information but they are also constant producers of information. With my colleague Dr. Anne Gilliland-Swetland, a digital archivist, I studied how teachers and students created, described, and evaluated historical and contemporary archives and how this integrated historical perspectives in science learning. Currently a national effort is on its way to develop universal description categories for digital archive materials. While these descriptors may work fine for professional archive users, they pose particular problems for non-traditional users such as young children and teachers. Before the advent of digital archives this might have been a negligible problem given that most archives are out of reach for children and teachers. But now that many archival materials are being digitized and made accessible to larger group of users, often with an educational focus, this has become a pressing issue. We found in our research that rather small amounts of digitized materials, if carefully chosen according to our criteria, can be sufficient. We also developed criteria in our research for selecting which materials of an archive should be digitized and made accessible for educational purposes. More information about the grant from the National Science Foundation can be found at a related Website.
	Digital Portfolio Archives for Science Learning
	Information Designs
MORAL COMPASS IN THE DIGITAL LANDSCAPE	With computer and Internet changes occurring in both the technological and social domains, and problems being identified on almost a daily basis, there is a prevailing mood of uncertainty regarding how to apply rules and standards. There is confusion regarding what can be legitimately copied from the Internet, since information is available through the public domain and there is ambiguity regarding what has been copywritten, since most of the laws do not yet pertain to the "liquid intangibles of the virtual world". Many adults reflect this uncertainty in their responses to and judgements regarding ethical issues, often relying on either their personal values, or rules set forth by management. Issues of fair use, copyright and intellectual property are also appearing in classrooms, as computers play an increasingly prominent role in children's education. How do young children reason about the adequacy of their interactions in the digital domain?
	Children's Moral Reasoning in the Digital Domain
COMPUTERS@HOME	To date, the major emphasis among educational researchers and practitioners has been on the development and implementation of educational technologies within formal learning environments such as schools, colleges and universities and informal settings such as museums, summer camps and afterschool programs. Most of this prior work has neglected to address adequately educational technologies in yet another important learning environment, the family home. While computers at home in the 80's were only available to a minority of families, in recent years the numbers have increased dramatically: Currently, over 50 percent of American households count a computer among their possessions in use for work, entertainment or educational purposes. What do young children do with computers at their homes? How can computers at home be connected with computer-based learning activities in schools?
	Issues around Children's Home Computing
MESSAGES ON THE WEB
	Children's Understanding of Advertising on Educational WWW-Sites