Aktuelles -
Informatik-Kolloquium am 2.6.: "Scratch: Programming in Youth Communities"
Am Mittwoch, dem 2. Juni, um 17:15 Uhr referiert Yasmin Kafai (Unversity of Pennsylvania) im Cartesium
Abstract:
Following in the footsteps of Logo, Scratch was developed to appeal to youth who hadn’t previously imagined themselves as programmers. Our goal was to make it easy for everyone, people of all ages, backgrounds, and interests, to program their own interactive stories, games, animations, and simulations – and to share their creations with one another. Since the public launch in May 2007, the Scratch website (http://scratch.mit.edu) has become a vibrant online community, with people sharing, discussing, and remixing one another’s projects. The collection of projects is wildly diverse: video games, interactive newsletters, science simulations, virtual tours, birthday cards, animated dance contests, interactive tutorials, and many others, all programmed in Scratch. As they program and share projects, Scratchers learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively. In this presentation, I will talk about results from various research studies on Scratch programming, on patterns of participation in the online Scratch community, and the development of expertise among young Scratch programmers concluding with an outlookon upcoming developments.
Yasmin Kafai is currently guest researcher at the University of Bremen (AG dimeb, Informatik)
Biography:
As a learning scientist, Dr. Kafai examines digital media designs and learning cultures through the lens of constructionist theory. Her early work, published in "Minds in Play: Computer Game Design as a Context for Children’s Learning" (1995), set the foundation for programmatic initiatives on game design for learning in the United States and Europe. "Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat" (2008) presented new developments in gender and gaming. Her recent collaboration with the MIT Media Laboratory have resulted in the design of Scratch (scratch.mit.edu) for Computer Clubhouses, a worldwide network of community technology centers, that she also documented in a recent book edition "The Computer Clubhouse: Constructionism and Creativity in Youth Communities" (2009). Supported by the National Science Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation, Dr. Kafai is now spearheading grants with MIT and Indiana University to investigate how the design of computational textile construction kits and communities can help broaden participation in computing. She is the co-executive editor ofthe Journal of the Learning Sciences and a professor of education and computer and information science at the University of Pennsylvania.
Yasmin B. Kafai
Professor Learning Sciences Co-Editor-in-Chief, The Journal of the Learning Sciences
2010 Fellow of the American Educational Research Association
University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education
3700 Walnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19104-6216
Voice 215.746.3468 Fax 215.898.4399
Email kafai@upenn.edu
