The hands-on process of constructing interactive objects by enacting the design process serves as a learning opportunity for developing literacies alongside content knowledge in ways that blur typical boundaries between disciplines. In early childhood, creating objects becomes a means of expressing one’s ideas and reflecting current understandings. Several of DevTech’s current projects include a focus on maker literacies as a foundational skill set for future computer science and engineering learning.
Coding As Another Language: Maker Literacies Module
The DevTech research group is collaborating with Horizons for Homeless Children to bring hands-on physical computing activities to all their toddler and preschool classrooms. By equipping both children and teachers with the tools, training, and inspiration to engage with technology in developmentally appropriate ways, this initiative sparks early curiosity, supports long-term academic and economic success, and serves as a model for other early education programs seeking to advance digital equity. This collaboration also brings ScratchJr Blocks & Bots to local preschool classrooms.
Early Childhood Maker Literacies:
Fostering computational thinking among Navajo youth and educators
This project, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF #2342370), is a collaboration between the DevTech Research Group and the Humanizing Engineering Research Lab at Boston College, and Prof. Kristin Searle at Utah State University.
The project aims to develop and research the effectiveness of portable maker carts equipped with developmentally appropriate and culturally relevant computational activities through participatory community-based design These carts can foster computational thinking skills and cultivate interest in STEM.
The design of the carts combines hands-on making commonly found in early childhood classrooms with tangible computing and introduces students to different types of jobs that require computing knowledge.