A curriculum for teaching computer science through computational textiles

The field of computational textiles has shown promise as a domain for diversifying computer science culture by drawing a population with broad and non-traditional interests and backgrounds into creating technology. In this paper, we present a curriculum that teaches computer science and computer programming through a series of activities that involve building and programming computational textiles. We also describe two new technological tools, Modkit and the LilyPad ProtoSnap board, that support implementation of the curriculum. In 2011-12, we conducted three workshops to evaluate the impact of our curriculum and tools on students' technological self-efficacy. We conclude that our curriculum both draws a diverse population, and increases students' comfort with, enjoyment of, and interest in working with electronics and programming.

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