CAREER: Designing a New Nexus: Examining the Social Construction of Electronics and Computing Toolkits to Broaden Participation and Deepen Learning

美国大学和学院计算机和信息科学课程的性别构成持续不平衡，这表明计算机教育中的性别差距仍然很大。尽管有几项国家倡议使STEM领域的参与多样化，但计算教育的基本文化仍然相对停滞，课程，工具和材料继续强调历史上与男性兴趣比女性兴趣更密切的领域。该项目采取了一个非常不同的起点，通过关注年轻女孩如何学习，来理解妇女在STEM职业中代表性不足的管道挑战。通过了解学习工具和材料的社会定位性质，教育工作者和技术人员可以为所有青年设计更公平的学习环境，并扩展当前的学习理论，以更好地理解工具和人工制品在学习过程中的作用，理解学习的核心是各种工具和技术与学科主题结构之间的关系。然而，很少有实证研究存在，以告知当代的工具和材料如何塑造学习和参与这一新兴的技术景观的理解。通过一系列系统和交叉的研究调查，该项目为当代电子工具和材料（例如，纸上计算、软电路、电子纺织品等工具包）塑造了学习和参与。每项调查都发生在现实世界的复杂环境中，如学校和课外俱乐部;包括新的评估集的开发;阐明了创建新工具和教育生态系统的设计原则，以更好地支持学习和公平参与;并探索了基于这些新兴原则的新工具包和部件的设计。基于设计的研究指导每个研究的方法，与从业者协商，以帮助确保每个拟议的活动系统有效地补充课程和实际情况。

The persistently lopsided gender makeup of computer and information science programs in US universities and colleges suggests that the gender gap in computing education is still obstinately wide. Despite several national initiatives to diversify participation in STEM fields, the underlying culture of computing education remains relatively stagnant, with curriculum, tools and materials that continue to emphasize areas historically aligned more closely with male interests than women's. This project takes a very different starting point to understanding the pipeline challenge of women's underrepresentation in STEM careers through focusing on how young girls learn. Through understanding the socially situated nature of learning tools and materials, educators and technologists can design more equitable learning environments for all youth and extend current learning theory to better understand the role of tools and artifacts in the learning process.Central to the understanding of learning is the relationship between various tools and technologies and the structuring of disciplinary subject matter. However, very little empirical research exists to inform contemporary understanding of how tools and materials shape learning and participation across this emerging technological landscape. Through a series of systematic and crosscutting research investigations, this project provides a basis for theorizing how contemporary electronic tools and materials (e.g., toolkits like paper computing, squishy circuits, e-textiles) shape learning and participation. Each investigation occurs in the complexities of real-world settings such as schools and afterschool clubs; includes the development of new sets of assessments; illuminates design principles for creating new tools and educational ecosystems to better support learning and equitable participation; and explores the design of new toolkits and parts based on these emergent principles. Design-based research guides the methods of each study, in consultation with practitioners to help ensure each proposed activity system effectively complements curricular and practical realities.