Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Research Articles
Strawhacker, A., Verish, C., Shaer, O., & Bers, M. U. (In press). Designing with Genes in Early Childhood: An exploratory user study of the tangible CRISPEE technology. International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction.
Strawhacker, A., Verish, C., Shaer, O., & Bers, M. U. (2020). Young Children’s Learning of Bioengineering with CRISPEE: A Developmentally Appropriate Tangible User Interface. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 1-21.
Strawhacker, A., & Bers, M. U. (2019). What They Learn When They Learn Coding: Investigating cognitive domains and computer programming knowledge in young children. Educational Technology Research and Development, 67(3), 541-575. doi:10.1007/s11423-018-9622-x
Strawhacker, A. and Bers, M. U. (2018). Promoting Positive Technological Development in a Kindergarten Makerspace: A Qualitative Case Study. European Journal of STEM Education, 3(3) 09. doi:10.20897/ejsteme/3869
Strawhacker, A., Sullivan, A., Verish, C., Bers, M.U., & Shaer, O. (2018). Enhancing Children’s Interest and Knowledge in Bioengineering through an Interactive Videogame. Journal of Information Technology Education: Innovations in Practice, 17, 55-81. doi: https://doi.org/10.28945/3976
Bers, M. U., Strawhacker, A. L., & Vizner, M. (2018). The design of early childhood makerspaces to support Positive Technological Development: Two case studies. Library Hi Tech. doi: 10.1108/LHT-06-2017-0112.
Strawhacker, A. L., Lee, M. S. C., & Bers, M. U. (2017). Teaching tools, teachers’ rules: exploring the impact of teaching styles on young children’s programming knowledge in ScratchJr. International Journal of Technology and Design Education. doi:10.1007/s10798-017-9400-9
Portelance, D.J., Strawhacker, A., & Bers, M.U. (2015). Constructing the ScratchJr programming language in the early childhood classroom. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 1-16. doi:10.1007/s10798-015-9325-0
Strawhacker, A. L., & Bers, M. U. (2015). “I want my robot to look for food”: Comparing children’s programming comprehension using tangible, graphical, and hybrid user interfaces. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 25(3), 293-319. doi:10.1007/s10798-014-9287-7
Invited Reports &
Book Chapters
Sullivan, A. & Strawhacker, A. (In press). Screen-Free STEAM: Low Cost and Hands-On Approaches to Teaching Coding & Engineering to Young Children. In Garvis, S. & Cohrssen, C. (Eds.) Embedding STEAM in early childhood education and care.
Strawhacker, A. & Bers, M. U. (2018). Makerspaces for Early Childhood Education (Principles of Space Redesign) & Maker values of early childhood educators, organizing a grassroots space. In Gravel, B. E., Bers, M. U., Rogers, C., & Danahy, E. (Eds.), Making Engineering Playful in Schools (pp. 18-29). The LEGO Foundation.
Sullivan, A., Strawhacker, A., & Bers, M.U. (2017). Dancing, drawing, and dramatic robots: Integrating robotics and the arts to teach foundational STEAM concepts to young children. In Khine, M.S. (Eds.) Robotics in STEM Education: Redesigning the Learning Experience. Springer Publishing.
Publications in
Conference Proceedings
Strawhacker, A., Verish, C., Shaer, O., & Bers, M. U. (2020, April). Debugging as Inquiry in Early Childhood: A case study using the CRISPEE prototype. In K. Mills (chair), Computational Thinking for Science Learning. Symposium conducted at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), San Francisco, CA. Conference cancelled.
Verish, C., Strawhacker, A. Bers, M. U., & Shaer, O. (2018, March 18-21). CRISPEE: A Tangible Gene Editing Platform for Early Childhood. In Proceedings of the Twelfth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction (TEI), Stockholm, Sweden. New York, NY: ACM.
Vizner, M., & Strawhacker, A. (2016). Curious Construction Kit: A programmable building kit for early childhood. In Proceedings of the 6th Annual Conference on Creativity and Fabrication in Education (FabLearn), Stanford, CA, October 14-16. New York, NY: ACM.
Strawhacker, A., Sullivan, A., & Portsmore, M. (2016). Billund Builds Music: An Engineering Education Initiative in Danish Kindergartens. Paper presented at the IEEE Integrated STEM Education Conference (ISEC). (pp. 257-261).
Strawhacker, A., Lee, M., Caine, C., & Bers, M.U. (2015). ScratchJr Demo: A coding language for Kindergarten: Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children (IDC ’15). Medford, MA, June 21-25. New York, NY: ACM.
Strawhacker, A., Portelance, D., Lee, M., & Bers, M.U. (2015). Designing Tools for Developing Minds: The role of child development in educational technology. In Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children (IDC ’15). Medford, MA, June 21-25. New York, NY: ACM.