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Breaking boundaries: strategies for mentoring through textile computing workshops

Published: 07 May 2011 Publication History

Abstract

With over 13.3 million children living below poverty line in the United States, there is a pressing need for engaging HCI research with children at the socio-economic margins. Drawing from design studio culture and art therapy literature, we explore wearable computing as a creative and tangible medium (similar to markers, paints, clays, etc.) for motivating 'at-risk' children in hands-on making and expressive instantiation of ideas. Working with a local outreach organization for 'at-risk' middle school girls, we conducted five weekly workshops during which participants ideated, designed and implemented personal wearable computing projects. These sessions inspired participants (age 10-12) who tend to be uninterested and uncooperative in educational activities to complete interactive projects and engage with workshop volunteers as mentors and peers. We present the challenges, merits and outcomes of our approach, proposing wearable computing as a healing outlet and a mentoring strategy for at-risk children.

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  • (2023)Research on wearable technologies for learning: a systematic reviewFrontiers in Education10.3389/feduc.2023.12703898Online publication date: 9-Nov-2023
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    cover image ACM Conferences
    CHI '11: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
    May 2011
    3530 pages
    ISBN:9781450302289
    DOI:10.1145/1978942
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    Published: 07 May 2011

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    Author Tags

    1. at-risk children
    2. design studio culture
    3. wearable computing

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    View all
    • (2023)Research on wearable technologies for learning: a systematic reviewFrontiers in Education10.3389/feduc.2023.12703898Online publication date: 9-Nov-2023
    • (2023)BJC SparksProceedings of the 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3545945.3569842(451-457)Online publication date: 2-Mar-2023
    • (2022)Uncovering Children's Situated Design Capital – A Nexus Analytic InquiryProceedings of the 21st Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference10.1145/3501712.3529732(408-421)Online publication date: 27-Jun-2022
    • (2022)Interest Development Theory in Computing Education: A Framework and Toolkit for Researchers and DesignersACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/348705422:4(1-27)Online publication date: 10-Dec-2022
    • (2021)Crafting, connecting, and commoning in everyday maker projectsInternational Journal of Human-Computer Studies10.1016/j.ijhcs.2021.102715156:COnline publication date: 1-Dec-2021
    • (2021)Manifesto for children’s genuine participation in digital technology design and makingInternational Journal of Child-Computer Interaction10.1016/j.ijcci.2020.10024428:COnline publication date: 1-Jun-2021
    • (2020)Interactive Stitch SamplerACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/341829920:4(1-29)Online publication date: 4-Oct-2020
    • (2019)Interaction Order and Historical Body Shaping Children’s Making Projects—A Literature ReviewMultimodal Technologies and Interaction10.3390/mti30400713:4(71)Online publication date: 28-Oct-2019
    • (2019)Thinking Outside the (Tool) BoxProceedings of the 9th International Conference on Communities & Technologies - Transforming Communities10.1145/3328320.3328389(317-322)Online publication date: 3-Jun-2019
    • (2019)A Literature Review of the Practice of Educating Children About Technology MakingHuman-Computer Interaction – INTERACT 201910.1007/978-3-030-29381-9_27(418-441)Online publication date: 2-Sep-2019
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