This lighting talk discusses the potential for using coding as a new means of self-expression. Coding has been identified as a key 21st-century skill, and as such, it is expected to be vastly acquired already in the early ages of formal education. Coding is a language that adheres to a system of symbols and rules, which, when combined, convey meaning. This postulation has led a few scholars to sustain that coding is a language functioning like any other language. Thus, coding might enable its coders to produce expressive artifacts, similarly to any other natural language, potentially offering a new form of creative writing in the 21st century. A celebrated use of creative writing is in the field of emotional therapy. Writing has been proven an efficient tool in both clinical and non-clinical populations. Nevertheless, despite its effectiveness, some populations are deprived of the great benefits creative writing may enable. Among these are children who do not know how to read and write, as well as adults who struggle with expressive writing. Therefore, we suggest a way for expanding the boundaries of coding to the field of self-expressive writing. We believe that apart from promoting its acquisition as an essential tool in the 21st century, knowing coding at an early age may also endorse general well-being, offering a new, somewhat more reachable, means of self-expression.

Engaging children in making creative coding projects is a popular approach for young children to develop computational skills. Children learn to transform their ideas and knowledge into personally meaningful projects. However, the connection between children’s coding competencies and their created coding projects remains unclear. This study explored how ScratchJr coding projects created by first and second graders (n=75) differed and whether the project focuses varied by the children’s coding competencies. ScratchJr is a free downloadable tablet game for children ages 5-7 to create animated stories and games. Through unsupervised machine learning algorithms, this study grouped coding project concepts by Principal Component Analysis then classified students into four groups by K-means. The results showed that students across the four groups focused on creating different aspects of the ScratchJr projects. Moreover, the median coding competency score of each student group also differed significantly. This study implies that young children with varying levels of coding competency tend to focus on creating different aspects of ScratchJr projects. Findings from this study can help to inform curriculum designers and teachers on essential approaches for guiding children in creating their own coding projects.

In this pilot study we created and evaluated a new version of the TechCheck Computational Thinking (CT) assessment designed specifically for kindergarten students. The original version of TechCheck was validated in first and second graders and consists of 15 multiple choice unplugged challenges drawn from six CT domains. The kindergarten version, called TechCheck-K, consists of similar unplugged challenges but reduces the number of response choices from four to three and uses exclusively non-verbal material in the responses to accommodate younger, pre-literate children. We administered TechCheck-K to N =89 kindergarten students from four schools, including 45 boys and 44 girls with no coding experience. Participants completed the assessment in an average of 23.43 minutes. TechCheck-K scores were normally distributed (M =8.26, SD =2.33). Mean scores were numerically higher in boys (M =8.71, SD = 2.69) than girls (M =8.05, SD = 2.07). The difference between genders was not significant. The pattern of correct responses to the 15 TechCheck-K items correlated (r =.76) with the pattern observed in first and second graders on the original TechCheck, providing evidence that comparable CT constructs are measured by the two versions of the instrument. Results of this pilot study indicate that TechCheck-K has acceptable characteristics for assessment of CT in kindergarten children.

This paper describes two programming environments explicitly designed for early childhood education, the screen-based ScratchJr; and the tangible robotic kit KIBO. Both of these tools were explicitly designed to support the learning of concepts and skills of computer science and engineering in a developmentally appropriate way. The design principles are based on the notion of "coding as playground" and "coding as literacy".

We present CRISPEE, a novel tangible user interface designed to engage young elementary school children in bioengineering concepts. Using CRISPEE, children assume the role of a bioengineer to create a genetic program that codes for a firefly's bioluminescent light. This is accomplished through sequencing tangible representations of BioBricks, which code for the primary colors of light (red, green, and blue) to be turned on or off. The interface and curricular supplement expose children in early elementary school to concepts traditionally taught much later in school curricula through playful interaction and exploration. We discuss CRISPEE's concept and design, and share findings from its preliminary evaluation with children and adults.

We present BacToMars, an educational video game that engages elementary school children in a bio-design activity. We describe its design and implementation, and discuss design considerations for developing playful and developmentally-appropriate interactive activities, which enable children to grasp complex scientific concepts and apply bio-design to solve problems. We share results from preliminary evaluation, and describe next steps in our investigation.

We present BacToMars, a collaborative educational video game that engages elementary school children in creative bio-design. We describe the game, as well as how our iterative and participatory design process is shaping the game's development. We also discuss plans for on-site evaluations at local elementary schools to answer research questions pertaining to collaboration, attitudes, and the potential of video games as a tool for teaching biological engineering to young children.

In this paper, we present a novel technique for assessing the learning of computational thinking in the early childhood classroom. Students in three second grade classrooms learned foundational computational thinking concepts using ScratchJr and applied what they learned to creating animated collages, stories, and games. They then conducted artifact-based video interviews with each other in pairs using their iPad cameras. As discussed in the results, this technique can show a broad range of what young children learn about computational thinking in classroom interventions using ScratchJr than more traditional assessment techniques. It simultaneously provides a developmentally appropriate educational activity (i.e. peer interviews) for early childhood classrooms.

This paper describes the ScratchJr research project, a collaboration between Tufts University's Developmental Technologies Research Group, MIT's Lifelong Kindergarten Group, and the Playful Invention Company. Over the past five years, dozens of ScratchJr prototypes have been designed and studied with over 300 K-2nd grade students, teachers and parents. ScratchJr allows children ages 5 to 7 years to explore concepts of computer programming and digital content creation in a safe and fun environment. This paper describes the progression of major prototypes leading to the current public version, as well as the educational resources developed for use with ScratchJr. Future directions and educational implications are also discussed.

Robotics offers a playful and tangible way for young children to engage with technology and engineering concepts during their foundational early childhood years. This paper describes the development of KIBO, a newly created robotics kit for children ages 4-7 developed at Tufts University through funding from the National Science Foundation. Designed explicitly for very young children, the KIBO kit has gone through several design iterations based on feedback from teachers and children over the past three years. The newest version of KIBO allows young children to become engineers by constructing robots using motors, sensors, and craft materials. Children also become programmers by exploring sequences, loops, and variables. In line with screen-time recommendations for young children, KIBO is programmed to move using tangible programming blocks- no computer, tablet, or screen required.

As awareness of computer science education grows in the general public, it is important to showcase computer science education as accessible for all grades K-12 and beyond. As panelists present the projects and research they've been conducting, we will highlight three overarching topics:

ScratchJr is a graphical programming language based on Scratch and redesigned for the unique developmental and learning needs of children in kindergarten to second grade. The creation of ScratchJr addresses the relative lack of powerful technologies for digital creation and computer programming in early childhood education. ScratchJr will provide software for children to create interactive, animated stories as well as curricula and online resources to support adoption by educators. This paper describes the goals and challenges of creating a developmentally appropriate programming tool for children ages 5-7 and presents the path from guiding principles and studies with young children to current ScratchJr designs and plans for future work.

This study aims to explore the relative differences in efficacy of three different computer programming interfaces for controlling robots designed for early childhood education. A sample of N=36 kindergarten students from 3 different classrooms participated in this research. Each classroom was randomly assigned to one of the following three conditions: a tangible user interface, a graphical user interface, and a hybrid user interface. Comparisons between the three conditions focus on which interface yields better understanding of the programming concepts taught. Implications for designing developmentally appropriate computer programming interfaces for early childhood education are discussed.

We describe a five-month pilot project conducted in the dialysis unit at Boston's Children's Hospital. Pediatric patients with renal disease used the Zora graphical multi-user environment while facing hemodialysis. Zora is an identity construciton environment specifically designed to help young people explore issues of identity, while engaging in a participatory virtual community. This paper presents the experience and evaluates the feasibility and safety of using Zora in a hospital setting. It describes how Zora facilitated explorations of identity and mutual patient support and interaction. Finally it also presents design recommendations for future interventions of this kind. More generally, this paper explores the potential of technology specifically designed with therapeutic purposes to help patients cope with their illness.

This paper describes exploration of uses of a computational storytelling environment on the Cardiology Unit of the Children's Hospital in Boston during the summer of 1997.Young cardiac patients ranging from age 7 to 16 used the SAGE environment to tell personal stories and create interactive characters, as a way of coping with cardiac ihness, hospitalizations, and invasive medical procedures.This pilot study is part of a larger collaborative effort between Children's Hospital and hZERL -A Mitsubishi Electric Research L&oratory to develop a web-based application, de Experience Journal, to assist patients and their families in dealing with serious medical illness.The focus of the paper is on young patients' uses of SAGE, on SAGE's aftordances in the context of the hospital, and on design recommendations for the development of future computational play kits.Preliminary analysis of children's stories indicates that children used different modes of interaction-direct, media&, and differ&-depending upon what personae the narrator chooses to take on.These modes seem to vary with the mindset and health condition of the Child.