This paper advances a collective research manifesto for Computational Empowerment (CE) in Child–Computer Interaction (CCI), grounded in diverse practices across global contexts. Drawing on five cases from Asia, Europe, and North America, we examine how CE commitments materialize in real world settings, revealing both their transformative potential and the tensions they introduce. Our cases illustrate that CE is inherently context dependent, socially situated, and shaped by surrounding structures. We identify key directions for extending CE: embedding critical and ethical perspectives, foregrounding situatedness and relationality, challenging convenient choices, and questioning design assumptions. This involves strengthening children’s agency in shaping computational systems and widening CE’s reach through more inclusive, sustainable practices. We offer this work as intentionally incomplete—an invitation to ongoing dialogue and collective action toward empowering children in computing.

Ubiquitous computing has led to inevitable interactions with computing technologies in individuals' everyday lives in the modern era of computing.These technology interactions are becoming increasingly invisible and intrusive in daily life.To navigate this computational landscape with agency, individuals take charge of their interactions in various ways.This form of engagement is inherently democratic, enabling individuals to cultivate a first-person, autonomous experience of computational technologies, free from apprehension or uncertainty.However, the characteristics of ubiquitous computing interactions can overwhelm children in urban Indian contexts who have limited exposure to technology interaction contexts.The authors of this Work-in-Progress (WiP) present AuthentiCT, a playground that emulates everyday computational interactions designed for urban Indian students in grades 7-8 (ages 11-14).AuthentiCT provides a structured space where students engage in everyday activities using computational objects, ultimately leading to the creation of a design project through three phases-Explore, Solve, and Evolve.This WiP submission outlines the research study plan.The authors anticipate that the study will offer insights into how learners from this context navigate everyday interactions through different dimensions of empowerment to take charge in AuthentiCT environment, along with the challenges they encounter.

Contemporary computer science graduates enter a world where numerous profound ethical dilemmas confronting society revolve around computing. Navigating the complexities of today’s technological landscape requires a profound consideration of ethical questions. Deliberations on the kinds of data to be gathered or avoided, the ethical dimensions of algorithmic decision-making, and the role of digital platforms in safeguarding democratic principles are at the forefront of discussions. Additionally, addressing biases in large language models (LLMs), ensuring responsible AI practices, and evaluating the technology industry’s contributions to climate change are pivotal aspects.

K-12 computing education research is a rapidly growing field of research, both driven by and driving the implementation of computing as a school and extra-curricular subject globally. Within discipline-based education research, it is a new and emerging field, drawing on fields such as mathematics and science education research for inspiration and theoretical bases. The urgency around investigating effective teaching and learning in computing in school alongside broadening participation has led to much of the field being focused on empirical research. Less attention has been paid to the underlying philosophical assumptions informing the discipline, which might include a critical examination of the rationale for K-12 computing education, its goals and perspectives, and associated inherent values and beliefs. The goals of this research project are to understand the implicit and hidden values, perspectives and goals underpinning computing education at school. This will be achieved through a critical examination of a wide body of literature leading to the development of a categorization and framework.

In the past, unraveling learner interaction data in TELE was a challenge. However, the advent of LA has helped in uncovering latent information in log data to scaffold learning. This paper focuses on learner interaction in VeriSIM, a TELE, to teach software design diagrams. The learners’ performance in the system is used to categorize them into three groups, namely, "full scorers", "partial scorers", and "give uppers". Our analysis found that the full scorers spend a significantly higher duration per action than the give-uppers in an introductory challenge presented in the learning environment. Further analysis unravels the strategies used by consistent and inconsistent learners, and it was observed that the learner interaction strategies evolve with increasing difficulty levels as they navigate through the challenges.