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Collaborative Electronic Textile Designs by High School Youth: Challenges and Opportunities in Connecting Crafts, Circuits, and Code
FabLearn Conference on Creativity and Fabrication in Education
  • Breanne Krystine Litts, Utah State University
  • Yasmin B. Kafai, University of Pennsylvania
  • Emily Dieckmeyer, University of Pennsylvania
Document Type
Conference Paper
Publisher
ACM
Location
Stanford, CA
Publication Date
9-26-2015
Abstract

Most electronic textile (e-textile) activities for beginners focus on making and coding individual projects leaving aside the potentially beneficial interactions that can occur as part of collaborative designs. In this paper, we report on an e-textile workshop with high school youth (ages 14-16 years) who were designing in groups interactive table centerpieces using LilyPad Arduino, LEDs, and conductive thread and fabric. We examined groups' approaches and reflections to two different collaborative structures, assigned roles versus assigned parts, and their interactions around project idea generation and circuit design documentation. In debriefing interviews, students reflected on other critical factors that supported or hindered their collaboration. Finally, we discuss the challenges and opportunities such collaborative designs can offer for broadening participation in coding and making.

Citation Information
Litts, B.K., Kafai, Y.B., Dieckmeyer, E. (2015). Collaborative electronic textile designs by high school youth: Challenges and opportunities in connecting crafts, circuits, and code. In Proceedings of the 5th Annual Conference on Creativity and Fabrication in Education. ACM, New York, NY. doi: 10.1145/3003397.3003408