Advancing Youth Media Design Through Research
The Youth Media Design Lab explores the intersection of child development and digital architecture. We conduct rigorous academic inquiries to better understand how media impacts the cognitive and social growth of kids and teens.
AI and Health Information Seeking. How Does Applying a Design Studio Perspective to Research Planning Shape a Study?
We recently won "Best Innovation" awards and startup funds for project proposals about generative AI and health seeking information. With our team, we took a user experience approach to planning our research and found interesting ways around research constraints to answer pressing questions.
Preschoolers, Tablets, and Education. Can Children Learn Math, Vocabulary, and Social-Emotional Skills from an App?
Many games are marketed as educational for preschoolers. Preschool is an important time for learning foundational academic skills and social-emotional skills. We looked at different designs of the same app to see what was most effective in helping children learn these skills.
Virtual Reality, Working Memory, Puzzles, and Community Collaboration. Can Children Learn in the Immersive VR Environment?
With our community partner, the SMUD Museum of Science and Curiosity, we set out to see what happens when we ask children to learn from VR. We were surprised that even when we showed kids the answers, they didn't seem to remember them once they were in VR.
Co-Design, Agency, and Learning Through Play. What Happens When We Trust Children to Choose?
This past spring, we had children help design an app meant to teach fractions while playing as a flower shop owner selling wreaths to particular customers. Designers, researchers, and youth worked together to design a game that made children feel in charge, an important feeling for both kids and adults.
