Boundary play and pivots in public computation: new directions in STEM education

• Autores: Pratim Sengupta, Marie-Claire Shanahan
• Localización: The International journal of engineering education, ISSN-e 0949-149X, Vol. 33, no. Extra 3, 2017, págs. 1124-1134
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • In this paper, we introduce ‘‘public computation’’ as a genre of learning environments that can be used to radically broadenpublic participation in authentic, computation-enabled STEM disciplinary practices. Our paradigmatic approach utilizesopen-source software designed for professional scientists, engineers and digital artists, and situates them in an undilutedform, alongside live and archived expert support, in a public space. We present case studies in DigiPlay, a prototypicalpublic computation space we designed at the University of Calgary, where users can interact directly with scientificsimulations as well as the underlying open source code using an array of massive multi-touch screens. We argue that in sucha space, public interactions with the code can be thought of as ‘‘boundary work and play’’, through which publicparticipation becomes legitimate scientific act, as the public engages in the invention of novel scientific creation throughtruly open-ended explorations with pivotal elements of the code.