National Science Foundation
American Computer & Robotics Museum
International Society of the Learning Sciences
University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education
American Educational Research Association
University of California, Los Angeles / City of Los Angeles
National Academy of Education
Professor (Graduate School of Education & Information Studies), University of California, Los Angeles
Postdoctoral Fellow, MIT Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Yasmin B. Kafai is a learning scientist whose research designs and studies online tools and communities that promote coding, crafting (e‑textiles), gaming, and creativity for K–16 learners. A pioneer in constructionist approaches to game design and computing education, she helped develop Scratch with MIT collaborators, and her work has expanded to biomaking and machine‑learning activities for classrooms. Before joining the University of Pennsylvania in 2008, she worked with Seymour Papert and Idit Harel at the MIT Media Lab (1989–1994) and served on the faculty at UCLA (1994–2008). She is an AERA Fellow and an inaugural Fellow and past president of the International Society of the Learning Sciences.
A reframing of computational thinking that emphasizes coding as a social, creative practice in which learners design meaningful applications, share, remix, and engage with communities. It argues for broadening and deepening participation in K–12 computing through authentic, collaborative activities.
A framework that foregrounds learning through making games (not only playing), integrating personal, social, and cultural dimensions of constructionist design to teach coding, academic content, and identity/collaboration.
Educational Psychologist • Journal
Synthesizes 55 studies on children learning by making games. The review highlights personal (coding and content learning, attitudes), social (collaboration, audiences), and cultural (identity, gender, equity) dimensions of constructionist game‑making. It argues serious gaming agendas should embrace constructionist approaches alongside instructionist ones to realize the full educational potential of games.
ACM Transactions on Computing Education (TOCE) • Journal
Examines the use of electronic textiles (e‑textiles) as a context for introducing key computational concepts and practices while broadening students’ perceptions of computing. Reporting on a LilyPad Arduino curriculum module in a pre‑AP CS class, the study analyzes students’ circuits, code, design approaches (including debugging), and changing views of computing, discussing scaffolded challenges and the potential of craft‑based materials to broaden participation in introductory computing.
Harvard Educational Review • Journal
Positions e‑textiles within the maker movement as a disruptive classroom practice. Through three high‑school workshops across a school year, the article analyzes students’ e‑textile making with attention to transparency, aesthetics, and gender. It argues that e‑textiles both support and challenge schooling conventions, offering opportunities to break down barriers to computing while surfacing new tensions for teaching and learning.
Review of Research in Education • Journal
Develops a framework and language for understanding youths’ DIY media practices and the participatory competencies they cultivate. Reviewing literatures on new media literacies and computer literacy, the article traces trends toward youth as content creators, discusses remixing, reworking, and repurposing—especially among disadvantaged youth—and considers implications for equity, after‑school settings, and K–12.
Communications of the ACM • Journal
Introduces the design principles of Scratch—making programming more tinkerable, meaningful, and social—and describes its large online community where youth share, remix, and learn from one another’s projects. Argues that digital fluency entails designing and creating, not just browsing and interacting, and that Scratch supports core computational ideas.
Proceedings of the 39th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE) • Conference
Reports on 536 Scratch projects created by 8–18 year‑old members of an urban Computer Clubhouse over 18 months. Documents the emergence of key programming concepts absent formal instruction, examines motivations for choosing programming over other media tools, and discusses implications for supporting programming in after‑school programs serving underserved communities.
Games and Culture • Journal
Contrasts instructionist approaches that embed lessons in games with constructionist approaches that engage learners in designing their own games. Argues that making games can cultivate new relationships with knowledge and calls for expanding the research base on both playing and making games for learning.
School Library Media Quarterly • Journal
Describes the SNAPdragon project in which grades 1–6 classes built an annotated children’s Web directory. Details instructional arrangements and students’ developing search and evaluation skills, highlighting how guided Web searching can support foundational information literacy and the collaborative role of school library media specialists.
The MIT Press • Book
Positions constructionist game‑making alongside instructionist game‑based learning to propose a broader model of “connected gaming.” Shows how making and sharing games teaches programming and academic content while cultivating collaboration and creativity; advocates integrating both playing and making in learning environments.
Communications of the ACM • Journal
Reframes the focus on “computational thinking” by emphasizing computational participation—coding as a social, creative practice embedded in communities that design, share, and remix applications. Argues for broadening access to programming communities and deepening engagement through meaningful applications and collaborative practices in schools.
The MIT Press • Book
Argues that moving beyond computational thinking to “computational participation” better reflects how youth learn to program today—by making and sharing games, stories, and interactive media in networked communities. Explores youth programming communities, remix practices, and programmable toys and textiles as part of a new literacy of participation.
Phi Delta Kappan (Feature) • Journal
Discusses the renewed interest in programming in K–12 and argues for integrating coding as part of a broader shift from computational thinking to computational participation. Highlights youth programming communities, remix practices, and the importance of meaningful applications and equitable participation.
The MIT Press • Book
Ethnographic and log‑data study of play and learning in the tween virtual world Whyville. Examines how kids learn to play, to play well (safely and responsibly), and to play creatively by creating content that becomes part of the world, and discusses implications for designing educational opportunities in virtual worlds.
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates • Book
Edited volume that documents innovative projects from the MIT Media Lab and beyond demonstrating how computational technologies enable constructionist learning. Sections address perspectives in constructionism, learning through design, learning in communities, and learning about complex systems.
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates (now Routledge) • Book
A seminal classroom study following fourth‑graders who designed Logo games to teach fractions to third‑graders. Shows how a game‑design studio environment fosters programming, narrative, mathematical representation, interface design, and pedagogy, illustrating constructionist learning through making computational artifacts for others.