The Developmental Technologies Research Group was started by Prof. Marina Umaschi Bers in 2001 at the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development at Tufts University. In 2022, Prof. Bers and DevTech moved to a new home at the Lynch School of Education at Boston College.
DevTech aims to understand how new technologies that engage in coding, robotics and making, can play a positive role in children’s development and learning. Our research involves four dimensions: theoretical contributions, design of new technologies, empirical research to test and evaluate the theory and the technologies, and outreach to disseminate our work. We create programming languages such as KIBO and ScratchJr as well as teaching materials and pedagogical strategies for the professional development of early childhood educators and community engagement.