Connected Code – Why Children Need to Learn Programming (The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning) - Hardcover

Kafai, Yasmin B.; Burke, Quinn; Resnick, Mitchel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0262027755 ISBN 13: 9780262027755

Publisher: MIT Press, 2014

Synopsis

Why every child needs to learn to code: the shift from “computational thinking” to computational participation.

Coding, once considered an arcane craft practiced by solitary techies, is now recognized by educators and theorists as a crucial skill, even a new literacy, for all children. Programming is often promoted in K-12 schools as a way to encourage “computational thinking”―which has now become the umbrella term for understanding what computer science has to contribute to reasoning and communicating in an ever-increasingly digital world.

In Connected Code, Yasmin Kafai and Quinn Burke argue that although computational thinking represents an excellent starting point, the broader conception of “computational participation” better captures the twenty-first-century reality. Computational participation moves beyond the individual to focus on wider social networks and a DIY culture of digital “making.”

Kafai and Burke describe contemporary examples of computational participation: students who code not for the sake of coding but to create games, stories, and animations to share; the emergence of youth programming communities; the practices and ethical challenges of remixing (rather than starting from scratch); and the move beyond stationary screens to programmable toys, tools, and textiles.

About this title

About the Authors

Yasmin B. Kafai is Professor of Learning Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the coeditor of Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat: New Perspectives on Gender and Gaming and coauthor of Connected Play: Tweens in a Virtual World (both published by the MIT Press). She is also coauthor of Connected Gaming.

Quinn Burke is Assistant Professor in the Department of Teacher Education at the College of Charleston. He is also coauthor of Connected Gaming (MIT Press).

Mitchel Resnick, an expert in educational technologies, is Professor of Learning Research at the MIT Media Lab. He has worked closely with the LEGO toy company for thirty years, collaborating with them on such innovative projects as the LEGO Mindstorms robotics kits, and he holds the LEGO endowed chair at MIT. He leads the team developing the Scratch programming software and online community, and he is cofounder of the Computer Clubhouse project, a network of after-school learning centers for youth from low-income communities.

Edition details

• Publisher: MIT Press
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262027755
• ISBN 13: 9780262027755
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 200