Readings

This page lists the required and optional readings for each class session, plus excerpts from the students' reading responses blog (courtesy of the students and used with permission).

Directions for Reading Responses

Each week, students will post responses on the class blog to some reflection prompts and questions about that week’s readings. Prof. Resnick and Karen Brennan will pose the questions for Weeks 2 and 3, while subsequent weeks’ questions will be posed by the assigned group of student facilitators. Each student should post their initial response by 5pm two days before the next class, and then add at least one follow-up comment (on someone else's response) by end of day before class. It's fine to keep the posts short (just a couple of paragraphs). What's most important is communicating one’s ideas clearly.

SES # TOPICS READINGS STUDENT READING RESPONSES
1 Introduction    
2 Constructionism

Required

Buy at Amazon Papert, S. Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas. New York, NY: Basic Books, 1980. ISBN: 9780465046744. Foreword, Introduction, Chapter 1 and Chapter 8.

Resnick, M. "All I Really Need to Know (About Creative Thinking) I Learned (By Studying How Children Learn) in Kindergarten." Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Creativity & Cognition, Washington, DC, 2007. (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF)

Optional

Papert, S. "What's the Big Idea: Toward a Pedagogy of Idea Power." IBM Systems Journal 39, no. 3-4 (2000): 720-729.

Resnick, M., J. Maloney, A. Monroy-Hernandez, N. Rusk, E. Eastmond, K. Brennan, A. Millner, E. Rosenbaum, J. Silver, B. Silverman, and Y. Kafai. "Scratch: Programming for Everyone." Preprint version of article published in Communications of the ACM, November 2009. (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF - 1.0MB)

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3 Learning sciences

Required

Buy at Amazon Sawyer, K. "The New Science of Learning." Chapter 1 in The Cambridge Handbook of The Learning Sciences. Edited by K. Sawyer. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2006. ISBN: 9780521845540. [Preview in Google Books]

Buy at Amazon Synopsis of arguments in the book Collins, A., and R. Halverson. Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology: The Digital Revolution and the Schools. New York, NY: Teachers College Press, 2009. ISBN: 9780807750025. (PDF) (Courtesy of Allan Collins and Richard Halverson. Used with permission. )

Optional

Kolodner, J. L. "The Learning Sciences: Past, Present, and Future." Educational Technology: The Magazine for Managers of Change in Education 44, no. 3 (2004): 37-42.

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4 New media literacy

Required

Jenkins, H., et al. "Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century." MacArthur Foundation, 2006. (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF - 4.4MB)

Optional

Buy at MIT Press Buy at Amazon diSessa, A. "Computational Media and New Literacies – The Very Idea." Chapter 1 in Changing Minds: Computers, Learning, and Literacy. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780262541329. (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF)

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5 Tangible learning

Required

Eisenberg, M. "Mindstuff: Educational Technology Beyond the Computer." Convergence, 2003 (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF)

Optional

Resnick, M. "Computer as Paintbrush: Technology, Play, and the Creative Society." 2006. (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF)

Resnick, M., F. Martin, R. Berg, R. Borovoy, V. Colella, K. Kramer, and B. Silverman. "Digital Manipulatives: New Toys to Think With." Proceedings of the CHI '98 Conference (1998): 281-287.

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6 Communities of learners

Required

Ito, M., et al. "Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project." MacArthur Foundation Reports, November 2008. (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF - 2.6MB)

Monroy-Hernández, A., and M. Resnick. "Empowering kids to Create and Share Programmable Media." Interactions (March-April 2008): 50-53. (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF)

Optional

Fischer, G. "Social Creativity: Turning Barriers into Opportunities for Collaborative Design." Proceedings of the Participatory Design Conference, 2004. (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF - 1.6MB)

Brown, J. S., and R. Adler. "Minds on Fire." Educause Review 43, no. 1 (2008): 16-32. (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF - 1.4MB)

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7 Relationships in learning

Required

Brown, J. S., A. Collins, and P. Duguid. "Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning." Educational Researcher 18, no. 1 (1989): 32-42.

Optional

Duckworth, E. "The Having of Wonderful Ideas." Chapter 1 in "The Having of Wonderful Ideas" and Other Essays on Teaching and Learning. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Teachers College Press, 2006.

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8 Supporting communities of learners

Required

Buy at Amazon Dewey, J. Experience and Education. Indianapolis, IN: Kappa Delta Phi, 1998 (reprint of 1938). ISBN: 9780912099354.

Optional

Buy at Amazon Sawyer, K. "The Schools of the Future." Chapter 34 (Conclusion) in The Cambridge Handbook of The Learning Sciences. Edited by K. Sawyer. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2006. ISBN: 9780521845540. [Preview in Google Books]

Barab, S. A., J. G. MaKinster, and R. Scheckler. "Designing System Dualities: Characterizing a Web-Supported Professional Development Community." The Information Society 19, no. 3 (2003): 237-256.

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9 Diversity and pluralism

Required

Turkle, S., and S. Papert. "Epistemological Pluralism." Signs 16, no. 1 (1990)

Buechley, L. "LilyPad in the Wild: How Hardware’s Long Tail is Supporting New Engineering and Design Communities." Upcoming in Proceedings of Designing Interactive Systems (DIS), August 2010, Aarhus Denmark.

Optional

Gardner, H. "A Multiplicity of Intelligences: In Tribute to Professor Luigi Vignolo." 1998/2004. (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF)

Buy at MIT Press Buy at Amazon Margolis, J., et al. Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780262632690. [Preview in Google Books]

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10 Games and learning

Required

Buy at Amazon Gee, J. P. In What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Macmillan, 2007. Chapters 1 and 2. ISBN: 9781403984531.

Buy at MIT Press Buy at Amazon Salen, K., and E. Zimmerman. Preface in Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003. Chapter 7. ISBN: 9780262240451. [Preview in Google Books]

Optional

Fortugno, N., and E. Zimmerman. "Learning to Play to Learn: Lessons in Educational Game Design." 2005.

Kafai, Y. B. "Playing and Making Games for Learning: Instructionist and Constructionist Perspectives for Game Studies." Games and Culture 1, no. 1 (2006): 36-40. (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF)

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11 Final project presentations