Imagining Inclusive Digital Maker Futures with the BBC micro:bit

Ball, Thomas and Finney, Joe and Hodges, Steve and Rubegni, Elisa and Underwood, Lorraine and Everson, Jayne and Shapiro, R. Benjamin and Tofel-Grehl, Colby and Vishkaie, Rojin (2024) Imagining Inclusive Digital Maker Futures with the BBC micro:bit. In: IDC '24: Proceedings of the 23rd Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference :. ACM, New York, pp. 1032-1034. ISBN 9798400704420

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Abstract

This workshop will bring together researchers and educators to imagine a future of low-cost, widely-available digital making for children, both within the STEAM classroom and beyond. In particular, we are interested in expanding the reach of digital making with programmable microcontrollers (such as Arduino, the BBC micro:bit, etc.) to underrepresented children in the STEAM fields, which includes historically excluded or marginalized children as well as those lacking access to computers and/or the Internet. Participants will report on their experience helping children learn about digital technology while creating wearables, robotics, environmental sensors and more. Participants who submit a position paper or work-in-progress report will have an opportunity to present their work and ideas. From these presentations, we will select emerging themes to discuss.