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Assignment 1 - Thu Ngo

https://studio.code.org/ The website’s focus is to teach the fundamentals of programming and computer science to students aged 4 – 18 (I focused on the 4-6 year old activities).   Review Aside from teaching younger students the fundamentals of coding and computer science, studio.code.org also exposes them to the idea that coders can be of any… Read more Assignment 1 - Thu Ngo

Assignment 1

URL: http://www.funbrain.com/ Goal : funbrain is a K-8 targeted educational game sight. Funbrain.com Review Funbrain.com boasts that they are the #1 website for educational games for children K-8. I guess my question to them would be, #1 in what? Funbrain is divided into four distinct sections: “math games” which predictably has links to games involving… Read more Assignment 1

Black et al- Reading Response

There was a lot that I found chilling in this weeks readings. The Black et al paper and the Kahn et al paper in particular brought to light some disturbing facts and theories. It was disheartening to read the Black et al paper and seeing that even though politically and theoretically we have achieved gender… Read more Black et al- Reading Response

Week 4 Response

I am thrilled to read about the potential of textile construction kits to provide a pathway for girls into computation. However, I wonder if such kits perpetuate a double standard about the types of toys that society deems suitable for girls. In other words, are we perpetuating a cycle that pigeonholes girls in traditionally female… Read more Week 4 Response

Technology Review and Redesign - Hello Barbie

I am reviewing Hello Barbie because we have had some conversations about her in class and I already had some insider knowledge about it having interned at Toy Talk last quarter. I thought it might be useful to share this information because it’s a good example of how the limits of technology inform design, sometimes in… Read more Technology Review and Redesign - Hello Barbie

"Her," Robots, and Child Development

What I found particularly interesting and terrifying about the piece on Robots and Child Development is how often we are blind to the potential detrimental effects of technology and how easily we write them off. When I first was reading the article I wasn’t convinced. I think from a technological point of view the possibility… Read more "Her," Robots, and Child Development

Tech Review and Redesign: Sushi Monster

Sushi Monster iPhone app Aimed at ages 9-11, according to the app store https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sushi-monster/id512651258?mt=8 Aimed at teaching rapid math facts by having the user construct sums and products from constituent numbers PDF: Marc Campasano – Assignment 1 (Sushi Monster) I looked at the iPhone app Sushi Monster by Scholastic. Sushi Monster is intended to teach addition… Read more Tech Review and Redesign: Sushi Monster

Week 4 Discussion

The discussion of morality regarding robots was fascinating and raises a lot of questions regarding other forms of moral literacy and how children develop this moral capacity. Kahn et al mentioned “most children believed that Robovie deserved fair treatment and should not be harmed psychologically” and additionally that “participants attributed some level of moral accountability to… Read more Week 4 Discussion

DQC - Week 4 - Betsy Anderson

While reading Fröbel’s Forgotten Gift I did not get the impression that any of the 20 toys and activities he created had distinctively male or female  features. All of the toys and activities seemed to be fairly gender-neutral and over time have inspired very gender specific toys like Legos and sewing activities. In Barbie Girls and… Read more DQC - Week 4 - Betsy Anderson

Week 4 Reading － Phoebe Shang: the missing piece in this human-robot interaction

At the end of the article about human-robot interaction, the authors utter a warning that as the rate of technological change has been increasing exponentially for centuries, developmental psychologists need to be agile and future oriented in their investigations if they are to remain relevant. Speaking of relevance, however, I find a constantly missing piece… Read more Week 4 Reading － Phoebe Shang: the missing piece in this human-robot interaction