Pair physical computing: high school students’ practices and perceptions of collaborative coding and crafting with electronic textiles

ABSTRACT

Background and Context: Physical computing involves complex negotiations of multiple, on and off-screen tasks, which calls for research on how to best structure collaborative work to ensure equitable learning.

Objective: We focus on how pairs self-organized their multi-domain tasks in physical computing, and how their social interactions supported or inhibited productive collaboration.

Method: We conducted a 30+ hour physical computing workshop where high school student pairs created interactive electronic textile signs. We recorded how students shared or allocated their tasks in fieldnotes and looked for reasons why this occurred through student post-interviews.

Findings: Students worked collaboratively on project planning, which involved discussion and decision-making, but individually during project construction, which involved physical execution of their plan. The quality of students’ social interaction was seemingly linked to how viewed their partner as a socioemotional resource.

Implications: Inherent qualities of the different domains of physical computing and how students view their partners in socioemotional terms can shape the productivity of student collaborative learning.

KEYWORDS:

• Physical computing
• pair programming
• collaborative learning
• e-textiles
• sociocultural approaches

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a grant [#1509245] from the National Science Foundation to Yasmin Kafai, Jane Margolis and Joanna Goode. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation, the University of Pennsylvania, or Utah State University.

Notes on contributors

Debora Lui

Debora Lui is a postdoctoral researcher at the Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania.

Yasmin Kafai

Yasmin Kafai is a Professor of Learning Sciences at the Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania.

Breanne Litts

Breanne Litts is an Assistant Professor of Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences at the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services, Utah State University.

Justice Walker

Justice Walker is a postdoctoral researcher at the Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania.

Sari Widman

Sari Widman is a doctoral student in Learning Sciences and Human Development at the College of Education, University of Colorado Boulder.