Identity Construction Environments: The Design of Computational Tools for Exploring a Sense of Self and Moral Values

...................................................................................................................................2 ACKNOW LEDGMENTS.................................................................................................. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................. 12 SCENARIO: ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF ZORA ............................................................ 17 CHAPTER IINTRODUCTION................................................... ................... 20 A PERSONAL MOTIVATION: THE SABBATH EXPERIENCE........................................................... 21 IN TELLEC TU A L R O O TS ................................................................................................................... 23 C ONTRIBUTIONS OF THIS THESIS................................................................................................ 26 IN TEN D ED A U D IEN CE ..................................................................................................................... 29 P R EV IEW O F TH IS TH ESIS ............................................................................................................... 3 1 CHAPTER IIIDENTITY CONSTRUCTION ENVIRONMENTS................................33 A CONSTRUCTIONIST APPROACH TO LEARNING ABOUT IDENTITY AND VALUES............34 LEARNING AFFORDED BY IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION ENVIRONMENTS............ .............. 36 POWERFUL IDEAS SUPPORTED BY IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION ENVIRONMENTS ..................... 38 THE SOCIETY OF SELF ....................................................................... 39 AREAS OF FLUENCY .........................................................................---.----...-----------.................... 43 TECHNOLOGICAL FLUENCY ........................................................................... ...... 44 ETHICAL FLUENCY ..............................................................................-----.-... .. . ----------................... 44 N ARRATIVE FLUENCY ................................................................................... -.. ------................... 45 COMPUTERS AS MEDIA FOR IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION ENVIRONMENTS............................. 46 CHAPTER IIIFOUNDATIONS .............................................................................................. 52 THEORIES.................................................................... .... 53 C ONSTRUCTIONISM ...............................................................................-....... --. ................... 53 T HE SOCIETY OF M IND ............................................................................. ......... -.. . -------................ 55 THEORIES OF IDENTITY FORM ATION .................................................................................. ...... 56 THEORIES OF M ORAL DEVELOPMENT......................................................................................... 58 TOOLS: BRIDGING THE DIVIDE BETWEEN EDUCATION AND PSYCHOTHERAPY....................61 NARRATIVES: THEIR ROLE IN IDENTITY FORMATION AND MORAL DEVELOPMENT .................... 62 OBJECTS TO INTROSPECT W ITH ......................................................................................... .... 64 TECHNOLOGICAL TOOLS FOR LEARNING ....... ........................ ............................................... 65 CHAPTER IVPRELIMINARY DESIGNS ...................................... 67 SAGE: CHILDREN AS DESIGNERS OF STORYTELLERS AND STORY LISTENERS .............. 68 BECOM ING SAGE BY USING SAGE............................................................................. ..... ..... 69 KALEIDOSTORIES: A WEB-BASED SYSTEM FOR VISUALIZING COMMUNITY PATTERNS...........73 SHARING STORIES ACROSS THE WORLD............................................................................. 76 CON-SCIENCE: FAMILIES AND TEACHERS EXPLORING ROBOTICS AND VALUES...................80 CHAPTER VTHE FINAL DESIGN: ZORA..... ............. ............... 84 WHAT IS ZORA? ............................................................................................................................ 84 ZORA'S IMPLEMENTATION ....................................................................................................... 88 CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS OF ZORA'S SYSTEM DESIGN ..................................................... 91 CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATION: CONSTRUCTIONISM ......................................................................... 94 CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATION: IDENTITY AS A COMPLEX CONSTRUCTION................................... 96 CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATION: EXPLORING VALUES AS ASPECTS OF IDENTITY ...................... 99 CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATION: NEED OF A COMMUNITY TO DEVELOP A SENSE OF SELF AND VALUES ..................................................................................................................................................... 1 0 3 A PARTICIPATORY DESIGN EXPERIENCE .................................................................................. 105 T w o PILO T STU D IES ..................................................................................................................... 109 CHAPTER VIZORA'S EMPIRICAL WORK.....................................................................113 CASE 1: A MULTI-CULTURAL GROUP OF TEENAGERS USING ZORA ........................................ 113 T H E ST U D Y ................................................................................................................................... 1 14 M ETHODOLOGY OF W ORK ........................................................................................................... 116 METHODOLOGY OF EVALUATION ..................................................... 119 L EA R N IN G STO R IES ...................................................................................................................... 120 Virtual autotopographies: spaces for exploring identity................................................. 120 Pablo: "you can see that I am Latino"................................................................ 120 Elisa: the personal meaning of Judaism............................................................. 126 A participatory micro-community in the virtual City Hall............................................. 129 Values as aspects of identity: concrete and abstract explorations .................................. 143 O PEN Q U ESTIO N S ......................................................................................................................... 14 8 CASE 2: PEDIATRIC PATIENTS USING ZORA AT THE HOSPITAL ............................................... 151 T H E ST U D Y ................................................................................................................................... 15 2