Social discussion of CS in K-12

["Wolske, Martin B" <mwolske AT illinois.edu>]

Hi all,

Last Tuesday evening I mentioned that some colleagues, Larry Stillman and Tom 
Denison, who do similar work with communities around technology but 
internationally through Monash University pointed me to capability approach. 
I finally got to digging into it more and I think there's a lot to like as a 
compliment to Dewey's pragmatism, computational thinking for all, and other 
shared frameworks. A strong theoretical case is made for taking a 
multi-dimensional approach to human development and flourishing that goes 
beyond just employable skills and economic growth without diminishing those 
factors. It especially focuses on the importance of developing agency and 
freedom of choice/empowerment in individuals so that they can develop the 
capabilities they value and have reason to value -- that is, the theory 
focuses on processes and means, not the ends. It further recognizes that the 
resources needed to accomplish that will be different for each individual 
depending on their personal biographies -- that is, it calls into question 
generalized approaches that gloss over personal histories, economic and 
physical status, values, culture, etc.

The reason Larry and Tom put it forward was because they felt it resonated 
well with the work many of us do within the field of community informatics, 
and I'd suggest it seems to also resonate well with our group. Larry and Tom 
further hoped it might serve as a theoretical framing for that work that 
could help others, both academic and community, better appreciate why we 
suggest our approach is so valuable. It is in a similar vein that the United 
Nations and UNESCO have adopted capabilities approach to frame their human 
development reports and their work more broadly. 

There's an introductory book available on capability approach that my 
students are finding useful available online at:
http://www.idrc.ca/EN/Resources/Publications/Pages/IDRCBookDetails.aspx?PublicationID=62
The first several chapters and the chapter on education seem especially 
helpful. I'd be very interested to hear others thoughts on the theory and its 
appropriateness for our work together as I continue to work to wrap my brain 
around this. I also have the paper Larry and Tom published on capability 
approach and community informatics, and perhaps a dozen papers that have also 
been published on capability approach and technology for development, 
including papers on capability approach, technology, and disabilities and a 
couple others on capability approach and design of technology, if anyone is 
interested in reading more.

-- Martin