Abstract:

The many social crises currently persisting in and across our communities can be directly tied to educational challenges. Whether the disregard for science even in the face of a global public health emergency, the dehumanization of our fellow humans based on skin color or country of birth, or the lack of urgency to heal a dying planet, each issue points to a failure to educate a population in a way that not only promotes new and deeper ways of learning about these problems, but a sense of empowerment and possibility to address them. In my research, I aim to engage learners in future-building: to critically reflect on the state of the world today—its challenges, successes, and failures—and imagine and begin building new systems, technologies, and societies where all people can thrive. In this talk I will show how I go about iteratively creating and studying playful learning technologies, tools, and spaces that enable learners to use their unique perspectives and experiences to address issues of personal and communal importance.

Bio:

Nathan Holbert is an Associate Professor of Communication, Media, and Learning Technologies Design at Teachers College, Columbia University. His work involves the development and study of playful tools, environments, and activities that allow all children to leverage computational power as they build, test, tinker, and make sense of personally meaningful topics, phenomena, or questions. Nathan received his Ph.D. in the Learning Sciences from Northwestern University and is the founder and director of the Snow Day Learning Lab. Nathan’s recent publications include “Afrofuturism as Critical Constructionist Design: Building Futures from the Past and Present” in Learning, Media, and Technology, “The Case for Alternative Endpoints in Computing Education” in the British Journal of Educational Technology, and “Designing Educational Video Games to Be Objects-to-Think-With” in the Journal of the Learning Sciences. Nathan is also co-editor of the volume Designing Constructionist Futures: The Art, Theory, and Practice of Learning Designs published by MIT Press.