Learning design for short-duration e-textile workshops: outcomes on knowledge and skills
E-textiles provide an interesting field of research as they “blend traditional craft with modern science” (Peppler, 2016) and help learners “broaden their own perceptions of computing” (Searle et al., 2016). Despite the promising findings by primarily long-term interventions structured around e-text...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Springer US
2024
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/156926 |
| _version_ | 1824458446941978624 |
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| author | Ioannou, Andri Miliou, Ourania Georgiou, Yiannis Timotheou, Stella Barkhuus, Louise Rode, Jennifer |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Ioannou, Andri Miliou, Ourania Georgiou, Yiannis Timotheou, Stella Barkhuus, Louise Rode, Jennifer |
| author_sort | Ioannou, Andri |
| collection | MIT |
| description | E-textiles provide an interesting field of research as they “blend traditional craft with modern science” (Peppler, 2016) and help learners “broaden their own perceptions of computing” (Searle et al., 2016). Despite the promising findings by primarily long-term interventions structured around e-textiles, educational curriculum reform has been slow to materialize. Educators who embrace a STEAM philosophy are more likely to endorse short workshops, integrating them in existing courses or initiatives; this could serve as a steppingstone for longer interventions and bottom-up curriculum reform. This study examines whether shorter e-textile workshops (lasting four hours) can result in significant gains in understanding. We present an investigation of e-textiles with 22 young children who have no prior experience with e-textiles or working with microprocessors. We present details of our learning design, as well as findings related to circuitry knowledge and computational making skills. We find that the children advanced their circuitry knowledge and practice a range of computational making skills. We further document a series of emerging challenges, including the children’s unwillingness to engage or lack of adeptness with software, a tension between aesthetics and construction, creativity limited by samples of previous e-textile projects, and the difficulty in grasping the materiality of e-textiles. We propose that some direct instruction and facilitation is not incompatible with the making ethos; the approach can help address these challenges, allowing young children to benefit from their participation in short-duration e-textile workshops. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-24T16:55:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/156926 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-02-19T04:26:02Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publisher | Springer US |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1569262025-01-07T04:10:38Z Learning design for short-duration e-textile workshops: outcomes on knowledge and skills Ioannou, Andri Miliou, Ourania Georgiou, Yiannis Timotheou, Stella Barkhuus, Louise Rode, Jennifer Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory E-textiles provide an interesting field of research as they “blend traditional craft with modern science” (Peppler, 2016) and help learners “broaden their own perceptions of computing” (Searle et al., 2016). Despite the promising findings by primarily long-term interventions structured around e-textiles, educational curriculum reform has been slow to materialize. Educators who embrace a STEAM philosophy are more likely to endorse short workshops, integrating them in existing courses or initiatives; this could serve as a steppingstone for longer interventions and bottom-up curriculum reform. This study examines whether shorter e-textile workshops (lasting four hours) can result in significant gains in understanding. We present an investigation of e-textiles with 22 young children who have no prior experience with e-textiles or working with microprocessors. We present details of our learning design, as well as findings related to circuitry knowledge and computational making skills. We find that the children advanced their circuitry knowledge and practice a range of computational making skills. We further document a series of emerging challenges, including the children’s unwillingness to engage or lack of adeptness with software, a tension between aesthetics and construction, creativity limited by samples of previous e-textile projects, and the difficulty in grasping the materiality of e-textiles. We propose that some direct instruction and facilitation is not incompatible with the making ethos; the approach can help address these challenges, allowing young children to benefit from their participation in short-duration e-textile workshops. 2024-09-23T16:12:19Z 2024-09-23T16:12:19Z 2024-09-19 2024-09-22T03:14:06Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/156926 Ioannou, A., Miliou, O., Georgiou, Y. et al. Learning design for short-duration e-textile workshops: outcomes on knowledge and skills. Education Tech Research Dev (2024). PUBLISHER_CC en https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-024-10411-8 Education Tech Research Dev Creative Commons Attribution https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ The Author(s) application/pdf Springer US Springer US |
| spellingShingle | Ioannou, Andri Miliou, Ourania Georgiou, Yiannis Timotheou, Stella Barkhuus, Louise Rode, Jennifer Learning design for short-duration e-textile workshops: outcomes on knowledge and skills |
| title | Learning design for short-duration e-textile workshops: outcomes on knowledge and skills |
| title_full | Learning design for short-duration e-textile workshops: outcomes on knowledge and skills |
| title_fullStr | Learning design for short-duration e-textile workshops: outcomes on knowledge and skills |
| title_full_unstemmed | Learning design for short-duration e-textile workshops: outcomes on knowledge and skills |
| title_short | Learning design for short-duration e-textile workshops: outcomes on knowledge and skills |
| title_sort | learning design for short duration e textile workshops outcomes on knowledge and skills |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/156926 |
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