Brownies or Bags-of-StuffDomain Expertise in Cooperative Inquiry with Children

Jason C. YipTamara Clegg

Elizabeth Bonsignore Helene Gelderblom

Emily RhodesAllison Druin

Science inquiry as fun and engaging

The need for life-relevant learning

Designing technology for life-relevant learning environments

Participatory DesignMethod: Cooperative Inquiry

A dilemma…

DESIGN experts are not SUBJECT experts

A website for American civics?

We recognize that

working only with

design expert children could be limiting.

SUBJECT experts are not DESIGN experts

However, Cooperative

Inquiry is not always

a simple process.

Our approach: Both design / subject expertise

Design expertsKidsteam

Subject expertsKitchen Chemistry

Research questions?

What are the

affordances and

constraints of designing learning technologies with

children with subject expertise / design expertise?

How can the results of designing with the two groups be combined to inform design practice that involves either group?

Comparative Case Study Method

KidsteamKitchen Chemistry

Design experts Subject experts

Design expertsKidsteam

Afterschool program

Two-week all-day summer camp

Twice a week

Children (7-11 years old) and adult design researchers

Afterschool or summer program

One-week or all-day

Children (8-13 years old) and facilitators

Subject expertsKitchen Chemistry

Stickies

Three design sessions per case

Bags-of-StuffLayered Elaboration

Data Collection

Artifacts andprototypes

Analytic memos

Photos andvideos

Data analysis

Grounded theory approach with constant comparative analysis

Open coding for aspects of usability, interaction, device specific features, and design ideas

Collaborative axial coding session to compare and contrast codes

Validity - Three external reviewers not close to the project examined the codes and data

Brief FindingsSimilaritiesDifferencesSimilar, but different

Bags-of-Stuff Low-tech prototyping

SimilaritiesFamiliar interfacesScaffolds and guidelines

DifferencesSubject experts focused on references and information retrieval

Design experts made no mention of this

Similar, but different

Mobility

Gamification

Stickies Ideation and evaluation

StoryKit

33Zydeco

SimilaritiesWanted more “child” like feel and wanted tagging to be like a game

DifferencesDesign experts wanted more social interactions and organizational tools

Subject experts emphasized multitasking between cooking and using the technology

Similar, but different

Narrative in tagging appTagging

Layered Elaboration Mixing ideas without erasing

SimilaritiesCustomized greetings and themes

Help for food investigations

Integrated media to input data

DifferencesKidsteam generated more ideas

Design expertsKidsteam

Subject expertsKitchen Chemistry

DifferencesDesign experts generated more ideasDesign experts were more comfortable

with design techniqueand giving negative feedback

Similar, but differentBUTTONS IDEAS

Design experts had more open and

unconstrained ideas

Subject experts focused on

pragmatic and practical ideas

Summary

Focus on the practical and

pragmatic

Contextual details

References

Unobtrusive devices

Multi-taskingSubject expertsKitchen Chemistry

Wild ideas

Open and unconstrained ideas

Specific features

Aesthetics

Opinions

Design expertsKidsteam

Subject expertsKitchen Chemistry

Insight into

their perspective in the context

Design expertsKidsteam

Possibilities for technology and design

Design expertsKidsteam

Subject expertsKitchen Chemistry

Ideal: Work with

both….

What if…You CANNOT have both?

ImplicationsChoice in techniques matters

Co-designers who are not asked to

criticize may not criticize.

ImplicationsDesigners can focus on usability

through observation of the partners

Building relationships with children

Relationships as design experts

Relationships as subject experts

Relationships matter in co-design

University of MarylandLuca Columbo Ben BedersonElizabeth Foss Alex QuinnMona Leigh Guha

University of MichiganChris Quintana and Alex Kuhn

Kidsteam children and Kitchen Chemistry children and the local school

Acknowledgements

@jasoncyip @tlclegg @ebonsign @HeleneGelder @emily3rhodes @adruin

Future work

Comparative examinations between subject and design partners to see if other distinctions exist in other contexts.

Adolescents and how knowledge of content and subject matter influences the co-design process.

Examining child partners with different domain-expertise at different times