1 Situated Support for Learning: Storm’s Weekend with Rachael While much attention has been paid to the content of support for learning, less attention has been given to its context. This paper introduces the notion of “situated support, ” and argues that the identity of the source of support and the connectedness of that support to other elements of the learning environment are of primary importance. MOOSE Crossing is a text-based virtual reality environment (or “MUD”) designed to be a constructionist learning environment for children eight to thirteen years of age. A microanalysis is presented of the situated nature of support for learning on MOOSE Crossing over the course of one weekend where a twelve-year-old girl learned to write simple computer programs.

We live in a society where concepts of self, community and "what is right and wrong " are constantly changing. This makes it particularly challenging for young people to construct a sense of self and to identify their most cherished values. Therefore, there is an amounting pressure in schools and society to create learning environments to explore these issues. Two research questions are at the heart of the work presented in this paper: What kind of learning environment will afford opportunities for young people to naturally engage in reflection and discussion about issues of identity, in particular personal and moral values? And, how can technologies have an impact on character and moral education? I propose identity construction environments as technological tools purposefully designed with the goal of supporting young people in the exploration of these issues. I first describe the design principles that distinguish these environments from other learning technologies. I also specify the learning experiences they do afford _ namely the understanding of identity as a complex construction composed by different elements, including personal and moral values. Then I present the conceptual foundations and implementation of the Zora identity

Abstract: The Programmable Brick, a small autonomous computer with sensing and control abilities, has been a topic of educational research for almost two decades. The use of this tool has now reached beyond research projects through its commercial availability. However, high cost has strictly limited its audience to only well-funded schools and institutions. Can learning activities involving Programmable Bricks take place in an economically challenged context? In this paper, we present an attempt to challenge this question by presenting a new framework that turns the acquisition process of Programmable Bricks and its necessary materials into a rich learning process. We present the GoGo Board, a low-cost Programmable Brick that allows the user to actively participate in its production process. We discuss the use of found and broken materials as sources of construction supplies. We analyze two case studies from projects developed in Brazil from 2002 to 2003. Specifically, we discuss the design aspect of the GoGo board framework that allowed for diverse and socially relevant learning projects to take place. Keywords: Programmable Bricks, Augmenting, Low-income Communities.

This thesis is dedicated to my family. Without their love, support and encouragement, I would never have made it this far. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my parents, Jerry and Joyce Elliott, my brother Jerry Elliott, Jr., and my sister-in-law Sherry Elliott, for their unwavering support throughout the time I have spent at Georgia Tech. I would also like to thank my wife, Jessica Paradise Elliott, who has kept me sane through these past few years. I hope I can return the favor. This research would not have been possible without the guidance of my advisor, Amy Bruckman. She has stood by me throughout my career as a graduate student, and this thesis is as much a result of her commitment and persistence as it is of mine. I would also like to thank the members of my thesis committee, Mike Eisenberg, Mark Guzdial, Janet Kolodner, and Beth Mynatt. Their contributions and compassion have inspired me and kept me going throughout the years. Thanks also to my fellow graduate students, especially current and former members of the

Reading and writing have become the predominant way of acquiring and expressing intellect in Western culture. Somewhere along the way, the ability to write has become completely identified with intellectual power, creating a graphocentric myopia concerning the very nature and transfer of knowledge. One of the effects of graphocentrism is a conflation of concepts proper to knowledge in general with concepts specific to written expression. The words ‘literate ’ and ‘literacy ’ themselves are a simple case: their connotations sometimes focus on the process of reading text and sometimes on the kinds of knowledge that happen to be associated in our culture with people who read many books. This thesis has a conceptual and an empirical component. On the conceptual side a central task is to disengage certain concepts that have become conflated by defining new terms. Our vocabulary is insufficient to describe alternatives that serve some or all of the functions of writing and reading in a different modality. As a first step, I introduce a new

We live in a society where concepts of self, community and what is right and wrong are constantly changing. This makes it particularly challenging for young people to construct a sense of self and to identify and develop their most cherished personal and moral values. It also puts pressure on schools and society to help them do so. This thesis explores how new technologies can be used to create environments explicitly designed to help young people explore their inner worlds. I coined the term identity construction environments (ICE) to refer to computational tools purposefully designed with the goal of helping young people explore different aspects of the self, in particular personal and moral values. My contribution in this thesis involves three dimensions: theory, design and empirical research. At the theoretical level, I propose a framework through which people can think and learn about identity as a complex entity embracing multiple and contradictory values. At the design level, I describe an evolutionary process of building and investigating the use of three identity