As we may print: new directions in output devices and computational crafts for children

ABSTRACT

In recent years, educational technologists and designers have begun to explore a variety of ways in which physical and computational media can be integrated---for instance, through the design of "intelligent toys" for children. This paper describes our ongoing efforts at exploring a different sort of physical-computational integration, focusing on children's design activities, output devices, and the notion of "printing out" more generally. We describe several representative systems under development in our group; each of these systems highlights particular possibilities for exploring and experimenting with output devices for children's crafts. We also present a set of design heuristis---useful techniques for those educational designers interested in expanding the range and expressiveness of craft activities for children.

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INDEX TERMS

Keywords:
computational crafts, educational technology, output devices