The paper contributes to design discourse by drawing on Educational Design Research (EDR) that has been conducted into what we call a Zone of Possibility (ZoP) over the past seven years. We define a ZoP as a place where individuals can overcome the constraints of expectations and power structures to effect desired change. Specifically, this paper…

This paper presents an implementation of Connected Spaces (CxS)--an ambient help seeking interface designed and developed for a project-based computing classroom. We use actor network theory (ANT) to provide an underutilized posthumanist lens to understand the creation of collaborative connections in this Computational Action-based implementation.…

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education has become an international priority. STEM education provides students with interdisciplinary knowledge and promotes the cultivation of high-level skills. However, STEM training opportunities for teachers are rare, which results in fewer opportunities for primary and secondary…

Past research shows that both teachers' technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) and their engagement in metacognitive activities are essential to technology integration in the classroom. However, the interplay between teachers' TPACK ability and their metacognitive skills is still underexplored, especially in the context of developing…

Numerous research publications have mentioned the need to prepare teachers to design and enact technologically enhanced learning experiences for students, thus increasing their academic performance and their engagement when learning. This paper addresses the crucial issue of how to train pre-service and novice teachers effectively to become good…

Celebrating hands-on making and technological inventiveness, the Maker Movement promotes the popularity of new makerspaces: learning environments filled with diverse materials for youth's creative projects. Described as "constructionist learning environments," makerspaces can be challenging to design because materials require substantial…

This paper reports on an iterative design-based research project to develop an online design tool (the Learning Designer) to support "teachers as designers." The aim is to evaluate the potential of the tool to develop and support a knowledge-building teaching professional community. The Learning Designer was embedded and evaluated…

Little is known about what design elements in digital learning games enhance learning; especially in the case of child audiences. This study examines the effects of a learning game's visual design on perceived attractiveness and learning outcomes. We developed two visual designs for the game: one with supposedly high esthetic value and another…

Learning analytics (LA) incorporates analyzing cognitive, social and emotional processes in learning scenarios to make informed decisions regarding instructional design and delivery. Research has highlighted important roles that emotions play in learning. We have extended this field of research by exploring the role of emotions in a relatively…

The ability to code computer programs is considered an important part of literacy in today's society. This paper reports from a case study in two sixth-grade classes where Scratch coding was part of six mathematics lessons. The aim of the study was to investigate how Scratch coding affected students' interest development in coding and in…

Makerspaces embody a growing movement of educators promoting constructionist learning with physical materials and digital technologies such as 3D design and 3D printing. As it gains traction in K-12 settings, the maker movement represents an interesting context in which to explore how professional ecologies can equip teachers with the knowledge,…

This paper presents the results of a systematic review of the literature, including a meta-analysis, about the effectiveness of the use of Alice software in programming learning when compared to the use of a conventional programming language. Our research included studies published between the years 2000 and 2014 in the main databases. We gathered…

This study explored the effects of cloud-based m-learning on students' creative processes and products in engineering design. A nonequivalent pretest-posttest design was adopted, and 62 university students from Taipei City, Taiwan, were recruited as research participants in the study. The results showed that cloud-based m-learning had a positive…

The recent and popular "Maker" movement worldwide has revived conversations about creativity, hands-on "Making," arts and design, humans with tools and digital experiences beyond the flat-screen. However, such conversation mainly revolved outside the realm of formal education. This article presents two learning tasks, one in…

Serious games have a great potential for training and educating people in novel and engaging ways. However, little empirical research has been done on the effectiveness of serious games, and although early findings do point to a moderately positive direction, even less is known about why some games succeed in effectively educating while others do…