Marina Umaschi Bers

August Long Professor of Education | Researcher in Learning Technologies and Computational Thinking

About

Marina Umaschi Bers is the August Long Professor of Education at Boston College's Lynch School of Education and Human Development. Her research focuses on innovative learning technologies, computational thinking, and positive youth development.

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Publications

The state of the field of computational thinking in early childhood education
OECD Education Working Papers
2022
Beyond Coding
Unknown Venue
2022
Thinking about Computational Thinking
Coding as a Playground
2020
Thinking About Computational Thinking
Coding as a Playground
2017
A Phrase Book for Talking to Kids
Becoming a Bilingual Family
2013
Designing Digital Experiences for Positive Youth DevelopmentFrom Playpen to Playground
Unknown Venue
2012
Issue editor's notes
New Directions for Youth Development
2010
Teachers College Press Early Childhood Education Series: Leslie R. Williams, Editor
Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education
2008
Computer science education as a humanistic endeavor: a model for designing technology-rich formative experiences
Education and Information Technologies
2025
The impact of a block-based visual programming curriculum: Untangling coding skills and computational thinking
Learning and Instruction
2025
Coding as another language: an early childhood programming curriculum in Argentina
Computer Science Education
2025
Validating a Creative Coding Rubric through expressive activities for elementary grades
Journal of Research on Technology in Education
2024
El desarrollo de Scratch-Jr: el aprendizaje de programación en primera infancia como nueva alfabetización
Virtualidad, Educación y Ciencia
2023
The efficacy of a computer science curriculum for early childhood: evidence from a randomized controlled trial in K-2 classrooms
Computer Science Education
2023
Nurturing Computational Thinking in an Israeli Kindergarten With the CAL-KIBO Robotics Curriculum
AERA 2023
2023
ScratchJr design in practice: Low floor, high ceiling
International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction
2023
Examining Gender Difference in the Use of ScratchJr in a Programming Curriculum for First Graders
Computer Science Education
2023
Coding as another language: Research-based curriculum for early childhood computer science
Early Childhood Research Quarterly
2023
TechCheck-K: A Measure of Computational Thinking for Kindergarten Children
2021 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON)
2021
Supporting Early Elementary Teachers’ Coding Knowledge and Self-Efficacy Through Virtual Professional Development
Journal of Technology and Teacher Education
2022
Student-Centered Computational Thinking for Children With Disabilities
Proceedings of the 2022 AERA Annual Meeting
2022
Designing an Assessment of Computational Thinking Abilities for Young Children
STEM in Early Childhood Education
2019
Evaluating young children’s creative coding: rubric development and testing for ScratchJr projects
Education and Information Technologies
2022
Coding as another language
Computational Thinking in PreK-5
2022
Assessing Robotics Skills in Early Childhood: Development and Testing of a Tool for Evaluating Children’s Projects
Journal of Research in STEM Education
2021
Coding, robotics and socio-emotional learning: developing a palette of virtues
Pixel-Bit, Revista de Medios y Educación
2021
The Coding Stages Assessment: development and validation of an instrument for assessing young children’s proficiency in the ScratchJr programming language
Computer Science Education
2021
Learning to code and the acquisition of computational thinking by young children
Computers & Education
2021
Taking coding home: analysis of ScratchJr usage in home and school settings
Educational Technology Research and Development
2021
TechCheck: Development and Validation of an Unplugged Assessment of Computational Thinking in Early Childhood Education
Journal of Science Education and Technology
2020
Designing with Genes in Early Childhood: An exploratory user study of the tangible CRISPEE technology
International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction
2020
How Parents Support Children’s Informal Learning Experiences with Robots
Journal of Research in STEM Education
2020
Comprehension of computer code relies primarily on domain-general executive brain regions
eLife
2020
Young Children’s Learning of Bioengineering with CRISPEE: a Developmentally Appropriate Tangible User Interface
Journal of Science Education and Technology
2020
Engaging Children and Parents to Code Together Using the ScratchJr App
Visitor Studies
2020
If You Can Program, You Can Write: Learning Introductory Programming Across Literacy Levels
Journal of Information Technology Education: Research
2020
Debugging the Writing Process: Lessons From a Comparison of Students’ Coding and Writing Practices
The Reading Teacher
2020
Coding as another language: a pedagogical approach for teaching computer science in early childhood
Journal of Computers in Education
2019
Computer Science Education in Early Childhood: The Case of ScratchJr
Journal of Information Technology Education: Innovations in Practice
2019
The Language of Programming: A Cognitive Perspective
Trends in Cognitive Sciences
2019
What they learn when they learn coding: investigating cognitive domains and computer programming knowledge in young children
Educational Technology Research and Development
2018
Coding as a playground: Promoting positive learning experiences in childhood classrooms
Computers & Education
2019
VEX Robotics Competitions: Gender Differences in Student Attitudes and Experiences
Journal of Information Technology Education: Research
2019
Investigating the use of robotics to increase girls’ interest in engineering during early elementary school
International Journal of Technology and Design Education
2018
Coding and Computational Thinking in Early Childhood: The Impact of ScratchJr in Europe
European Journal of STEM Education
2018
Promoting Positive Technological Development in a Kindergarten Makerspace: A Qualitative Case Study
European Journal of STEM Education
2018
The Impact of Teacher Gender on Girls’ Performance on Programming Tasks in Early Elementary School
Journal of Information Technology Education: Innovations in Practice
2018
The design of early childhood makerspaces to support positive technological development
Library Hi Tech
2018
Books, Butterflies, and ‘Bots: Integrating Engineering and Robotics into Early Childhood Curricula
Early Mathematics Learning and Development
2018
A Pilot Study of the KIBO Robot in Children with Severe ASD
International Journal of Social Robotics
2018
Enhancing Children's Interest and Knowledge in Bioengineering through an Interactive Videogame
Journal of Information Technology Education: Innovations in Practice
2018
The Seymour test: Powerful ideas in early childhood education
International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction
2017
Perspective taking and decision-making in educational game play: A mixed-methods study
Applied Developmental Science
2016
The Impact of User Interface on Young Children’s Computational Thinking
Journal of Information Technology Education: Innovations in Practice
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
2017
Dancing robots: integrating art, music, and robotics in Singapore’s early childhood centers
International Journal of Technology and Design Education
2017
Programming with the KIBO Robotics Kit in Preschool Classrooms
Computers in the Schools
2016
Girls, Boys, and Bots: Gender Differences in Young Children’s Performance on Robotics and Programming Tasks
Journal of Information Technology Education: Innovations in Practice
2016
Constructing the ScratchJr programming language in the early childhood classroom
International Journal of Technology and Design Education
2015
“I want my robot to look for food”: Comparing Kindergartner’s programming comprehension using tangible, graphic, and hybrid user interfaces
International Journal of Technology and Design Education
2014
Robotics in the early childhood classroom: learning outcomes from an 8-week robotics curriculum in pre-kindergarten through second grade
International Journal of Technology and Design Education
2015
Implementing a Robotics Curriculum in an Early Childhood Montessori Classroom
Journal of Information Technology Education: Innovations in Practice
2014
Put Your Robot in, Put Your Robot out: Sequencing through Programming Robots in Early Childhood
Journal of Educational Computing Research
2014
Computational thinking and tinkering: Exploration of an early childhood robotics curriculum
Computers & Education
2014
Georgia's P‐16 Reggio Emilia initiative: bringing schools and universities together
Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education
2001

Education

Instituto IberoAmericano Rabinico Reformista - Buenos Aires Argentina

None / 2022

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Laboratory

Ph.D. in Media Arts and Sciences / 2001

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Laboratory

M.S. in Media Arts and Sciences / 1995

Boston University School of Education

M.Ed. in Educational Technology / 1994

University of Buenos Aires School of Social Communication

B.A. / 1993

TEA School of Journalism Buenos Aires Argentina

Journalist / 1992

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

None / 1989

Experience

Boston College

Augustus Long Professor of Education / 2022Present

Lynch School of Education Secondary appointment Department of Computer Science Affiliated faculty Schiller Institute for Science and Society Director DevTech research group

Professor / 2022Present

Lynch School of Education

Tufts University

Professor / 20132022

Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development

Chair / 20182021

Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development

Director / 20152022

Early Childhood Technology Graduate Certificate Program

Director / 2001Present

DevTech Research Group

Fellow / 20052022

Center for Educational Engineering Outreach

Director / 20152022

Master of Arts Program

Associate Professor / 20112014

Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development

Adjunct Professor / 20012012

Tisch College of Public Service

Professor / 2013Present

Eliot-Pearson Dept. of Child Development

Chair / 20182020

Eliot-Pearson Dept. of Child Study and Human Development

Associate Professor / 2005Present

None

Associate Professor / 20012012

Eliot-Pearson Dept. of Child Development

Boston Childrens Hospital

Associate Scientific Staff / 2007Present

Department of Psychiatry

MIT Media Laboratory

Research Assistant / 20052011

Epistemology and Learning Group Head: Seymour Papert

Research Assistant / 19972001

Gesture and Narrative Language Group Head: Justine Cassell

Teaching Assistant / 19972000

Prof. Mitchel Resnick Sherry Turkle

Instructor / 19961998

IAP Program

MERL Mitsubishi Electric Research Lab

Research Internship / 19951997

None

Interval Research Corporation

Research Fellowship / 19961996

None

Buenos Aires University

Teaching Assistant / 19921994

Communication Sciences Department Teaching Assistant Prof. Alejandro Piscitelli Anibal Ford

La Plata National University

Lecturer / 19931993

School of Journalism

Systemic Psychology Graduate Institute

Instructor / 19931993

Spring 1993

Anthropology National Graduate Institute

Lecturer / 19931993

Fall 1993

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