Yasmin B. Kafai, Ph.D., is a Professor of
Learning Sciences
Learning sciences (LS) is an interdisciplinary field that works to further scientific, humanistic, and critical theoretical understanding of learning as well as to engage in the design and implementation of learning innovations, and the improvem ...
at the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
Graduate School of Education, past president of the
International Society of the Learning Sciences The International Society of the Learning Sciences is a professional society dedicated to the interdisciplinary Empirical research, empirical investigation of learning as it exists in real-world settings and how learning may be facilitated both wit ...
(ISLS), and an executive editor of the ''
Journal of the Learning Sciences
The ''Journal of the Learning Sciences'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering research on education and learning as theoretical and design sciences. It is one of two official publications of the International Society of the Learning Scien ...
''.
Life
Kafai was born in Germany and has worked and studied in Germany, France, and the United States. In the U.S., Kafai worked with
Seymour Papert
Seymour Aubrey Papert (; 29 February 1928 – 31 July 2016) was a South African-born American mathematician, computer scientist, and educator, who spent most of his career teaching and researching at MIT. He was one of the pioneers of artificial ...
at the
MIT Media Lab
The MIT Media Lab is a research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, growing out of MIT's Architecture Machine Group in the School of Architecture. Its research does not restrict to fixed academic disciplines, but draws from ...
oratory and was a faculty member of the
UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies
The UCLA School of Education and Information Studies (UCLA Ed & IS) is one of the academic and professional schools at the University of California, Los Angeles. Located in Los Angeles, California, the school combines two distinguished department ...
.
Kafai is a pioneer in research on electronic gaming, learning, and gender.
Utilizing
constructionist theory, Kafai examines technology designs and culture, and helped to set the foundation for programmatic initiatives on
games and learning.
Kafai was an early developer and researcher of
Scratch, an educational programming language that allows students to creatively participate as programmers in the development of virtual projects.
She is also an active voice on the involvement of girls in gaming and programming
and on the impact of virtual gaming on real-life social behavior in youth.
Kafai is an editor of ''Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat: New Perspectives on Gender and Gaming'' (2008), a collection of essays that builds on the groundbreaking book ''From Barbie to Mortal Kombat'' (Cassell and Jenkins, 2000).
''Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat'' presents new developments in gaming, gender, and learning, and why gender-based stereotypes persist in gaming.
Kafai's 1995 book ''Minds in Play: Computer Design as a Context for Children's Learning'' helped to establish the field of gaming and learning.
Kafai has also written ''Under the Microscope: A Decade of Gender Equity Interventions in the Sciences'' (2004), contributed to ''Tech-Savvy: Educating Girls in the New Computer Age'', and written several journal and book articles.
Published Books
* Kafai, Y. B. & Burke, Q. (2016).
Connected gaming: What making video games can teach us about learning and literacy'. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
* Kafai, Y. B. & Burke, Q. (2014).
Connected code: Why children need to learn programming'. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
* Kafai, Y. B. & Fields, D. A. (2013).
Connected play: Tweens in a virtual world'. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
* Kafai, Y. B. (1995). Minds in play: Computer game design as a context for children’s learning. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Edited Books
* Holbert, N., Berland, M., & Kafai, Y. B. (Eds.). (2020).
Designing constructionist futures: The art, theory, and practice of learning designs'. MIT Press.
* Buechley, L., Peppler, K. A., Eisenberg, M., & Kafai, Y. B. (Eds.) (2013)
Textile messages: Dispatches from the world of electronic textiles and education New York: Peter Lang Publishers.
* Kafai, Y. B., Peppler, K. A., & Chapman, R. N. (Eds.) (2009)
The computer clubhouse: Constructionism and creativity in youth communities New York: Teachers College Press.
* Kafai, Y. B., Heeter, C., Denner, J., & Sun, J. (Eds.) (2008)
Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat: New perspectives on gender and gaming Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
* Kafai, Y. B., & Resnick, M. (Eds.) (1996). Constructionism in practice: Designing, thinking, and learning in a digital world. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
References
External links
Penn GSEYasmin KafaiComputational Textiles as Materials for CreativitySpotlight on Digital Media and Learning
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kafai, Yasmin
University of Pennsylvania faculty
Technical University of Berlin alumni
Harvard University alumni
UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies faculty