Identifying Youths’ Spheres of Influence through Participatory Design

When designing learning environments and curricula for diverse populations, it is beneficial to connect with learners' cultural knowledge, and the related interests, they bring to the learning context. To aid in the design and development of a computing curriculum and identify these areas of pe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inDesigns for Learning Vol. 13; no. 1; pp. 20 - 34
Main Authors Coenraad, Merijke, Weintrop, David, Eatinger, Donna, Palmer, Jen, Franklin, Diana
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Ubiquity Press Ltd 17.06.2021
Stockholm University Press
Subjects
Administrator Role
Computer science
Computer Science Education
Cooperative Planning
culturally relevant
Culturally Relevant Education
curriculum design
Curriculum Development
Environmental Influences
Equipment and supplies
Family Influence
Identification (Psychology)
Influences
Instructional Design
Leisure Time
Mass Media Effects
Parent Participation
participatory design
Peer Influence
Preadolescents
Student Diversity
Student Interests
Student Participation
Teacher Participation
Teaching
Teenagers
Youth
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Summary:When designing learning environments and curricula for diverse populations, it is beneficial to connect with learners' cultural knowledge, and the related interests, they bring to the learning context. To aid in the design and development of a computing curriculum and identify these areas of personal and cultural connection, we conducted a series of participatory design sessions. The goal of these sessions was to collect ideas around ways to make the instructional materials reflect the interests and voices of the learners. In this paper, we examine how the use of participatory design techniques can advance our understanding of the domains influencing today's youth. Specifically, we examine the ideas generated by youth during these sessions as a means to understand what influences them and their ideas of cultural relevancy. In this work, we identify the resources children draw on across design activities and organize them to extend the Spheres of Influence framework (L. Archer et al., 2014). We identify seven spheres to attend to when designing for learning: Home and Family, School and Work, Hobbies and Leisure, Media, Interests, Peers, and Identity. Keywords: participatory design, culturally relevant, computer science, curriculum design
ISSN:2001-7480
1654-7608
2001-7480
DOI:10.16993/dfl.163