Characterizing Relationships Between Play and Computation in Computational Making Activities

• In Event: Advanced Technology in STEM+C Education

Abstract

Computational approaches to STEM foster creative extrapolations of inquiry that can expand how we think about disciplinary practice. They offer education researchers opportunities to explore learners’ relationships to inquiry, with implications for supporting authentic disciplinary practices in classrooms. We propose “computational play” as one approach to re-examining relationships to inquiry in STEM. Play supports risk-taking and exploring new configurations of existing structures. Our design invites playful explorations of materials and tools using computational approaches, where learners identify the rules and emergent behaviors of the objects they make, and iterate on them to observe changes. We identify characteristics of computational play, and argue this activity creates opportunities for learners to author forms of inquiry in disciplinary practices.

Authors

• Brian E. Gravel, Tufts University

• Amon D. Millner, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

• Eli Tucker-Raymond, Boston University

• Maria C Olivares, Boston University

• Aditi Wagh, Massachusetts Institute of Technology