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Learning through artifacts: Communities of practice in classrooms

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Abstract

One of the central issues is how the computer can enter in the learning process. A considerable amount of research has examined how children’s interactions and learning with computational artifacts are situated. A different approach focuses on the learning through computational artifacts: what can and do children learn when making a computational artifact? This paper studies the experience of elementary-school students making computer games to teach fractions to younger students. The analysis addresses how the social interactions and the artifact constructions situated students’ learning experience. The discussion examines the relationships between designing and learning from a situated learning perspective.

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Correspondence to Yasmin Kafai.

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Kafai, Y. Learning through artifacts: Communities of practice in classrooms. AI & Soc 10, 89–100 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02716758

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