With NSF-funded Smart Playgrounds, UCI Researchers Take Computer Science Beyond Screens
By Christine Byrd
February 13, 2024 UC Irvine School of Education faculty are collaborating on a project to create a first-of-its-kind school playground: one where slides, monkey bars and swings can be programmed by kids through their play. Funded by nearly $3 million in grants from the National Science Foundation, the smart playgrounds will give early learners hands-on experience with computer science and computational thinking skills that are increasingly important at all levels of education. “We’re taking computer science concepts out of the screen and reinforcing them in physical, playful, real-world spaces,” said Andres Bustamante, assistant professor of education at UCI, and principal investigator on the project. |
The four-year effort kicked off in January, with the first in a series of co-design sessions where researchers will learn from Latinx parents and kindergarteners about their favorite games and activities to do at their existing play structure. Local co-design sessions are being coordinated with the Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) and the Santa Ana Early Learning Initiative (SAELI), both of which actively partner with UCI education researchers on multiple programs.
“Part of our process is trying to understand the realities and lived experiences of the families and the communities, and adjusting our ideas to complement their ‘funds of knowledge’ in a culturally sustaining way,” said June Ahn, professor of education at UCI and a national leader in research-practice partnerships, who is co-PI on the grant.
Additional co-design sessions will be held with families in Boston, where the team’s research collaborators are based. Marina Bers, the Augustus Long Professor of Education at Boston College, is the creator of the popular kids coding app Scratch Jr., and Chris Rogers, John R. Beaver Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Tufts University, is one of the designers of LEGO MINDSTORMS educational sets. Rogers will build prototypes of the programmable play structure in his Boston lab, incorporating switches, actuators, sensors and control boards. Then, children will have the opportunity to try them out and provide feedback before the designs are finalized and installed.
Although the design process is just getting underway, Bustamante envisions elements such as music that plays when a child goes down a slide, with the song matching the speed of the child’s movement – from a moderate-tempo cumbia to a lively mariachi tune.
The project grew out of conversations between Bustamante and Bers, who spoke at the UCI School of Education in 2021, about building on both of their areas of expertise. Bustamante has previously worked with community groups in Santa Ana to develop interactive, play-based STEM projects. For example, the game Fraction Ball in which students at El Sol Science & Arts Academy explored fractions and decimals on a specially painted basketball court. Another was a series of interactive, family-friendly STEM activities in public spaces including bus stops and grocery stores in Santa Ana.
“Part of our process is trying to understand the realities and lived experiences of the families and the communities, and adjusting our ideas to complement their ‘funds of knowledge’ in a culturally sustaining way,” said June Ahn, professor of education at UCI and a national leader in research-practice partnerships, who is co-PI on the grant.
Additional co-design sessions will be held with families in Boston, where the team’s research collaborators are based. Marina Bers, the Augustus Long Professor of Education at Boston College, is the creator of the popular kids coding app Scratch Jr., and Chris Rogers, John R. Beaver Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Tufts University, is one of the designers of LEGO MINDSTORMS educational sets. Rogers will build prototypes of the programmable play structure in his Boston lab, incorporating switches, actuators, sensors and control boards. Then, children will have the opportunity to try them out and provide feedback before the designs are finalized and installed.
Although the design process is just getting underway, Bustamante envisions elements such as music that plays when a child goes down a slide, with the song matching the speed of the child’s movement – from a moderate-tempo cumbia to a lively mariachi tune.
The project grew out of conversations between Bustamante and Bers, who spoke at the UCI School of Education in 2021, about building on both of their areas of expertise. Bustamante has previously worked with community groups in Santa Ana to develop interactive, play-based STEM projects. For example, the game Fraction Ball in which students at El Sol Science & Arts Academy explored fractions and decimals on a specially painted basketball court. Another was a series of interactive, family-friendly STEM activities in public spaces including bus stops and grocery stores in Santa Ana.
Bers brings expertise in teaching computer science to early learners. The Scratch Jr. application she launched nearly a decade ago has helped make computer coding accessible to younger children, with more than 45 million users around the globe. Many educators and parents are eager to introduce their students to computer science, and the skills are increasingly being added to K-12 curricula.
“There’s a greater understanding now that computing is a big part of our kids’ lives,” said Bustamante. “But you don’t necessarily need screens to learn the concepts. Computer science means engineering and problem solving in a context that matters to the students – like programming their toys.” |
By focusing on playgrounds at school sites, the researchers are able to work with teachers to incorporate the play into lessons. While students will have the opportunity for free play, there will also be organized activities on the structure followed up by classroom lessons that teachers can use to reinforce the learning objectives.
Importantly, the school-based project will also allow Bustamante and his colleagues to directly assess how the play-based activities and lessons impact the kindergarteners’ computer science learning – something much harder to measure in Bustamante’s other STEM playgrounds in public spaces in Santa Ana.
While the project calls for retrofitting two or three playgrounds used by 500 kindergarteners at SAUSD schools, if it catches on, it could expand to other school playgrounds and community parks.
“Ten years ago, researchers at NSF workshops about smart cities were imagining and discussing the possibility of kids being able to program a city,” said Ahn. “Here we are, at a time in our history where the technology and the innovations from people including Marina and Andres, are enabling us to start turning those ideas into reality. It’s incredibly exciting.”
Importantly, the school-based project will also allow Bustamante and his colleagues to directly assess how the play-based activities and lessons impact the kindergarteners’ computer science learning – something much harder to measure in Bustamante’s other STEM playgrounds in public spaces in Santa Ana.
While the project calls for retrofitting two or three playgrounds used by 500 kindergarteners at SAUSD schools, if it catches on, it could expand to other school playgrounds and community parks.
“Ten years ago, researchers at NSF workshops about smart cities were imagining and discussing the possibility of kids being able to program a city,” said Ahn. “Here we are, at a time in our history where the technology and the innovations from people including Marina and Andres, are enabling us to start turning those ideas into reality. It’s incredibly exciting.”