The         Lab

Examining Technology, Race, Equity, and Ethics in Education

The TREE Lab

Research & Publications

Current research, publications, and presentations from the TREE Lab

Publications

Vakil, S., Reith, A., & Melo, N. A. (2023). Jamming power: Youth agency and community‐driven science in a critical technology learning program. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 60(8), 1723-1754.

Logan, C., & Vakil, S. (2023). “I will be your informant”: Observing young people’s emergent critical platform literacy development. In Proceedings of the International Conference of the Learning Sciences.

Moore, S., Davey, B., & Vakil, S. (2023). Ethical complexity in youth-led computer science curriculum writing: Emergent ethical deliberation in curricular co-design. In Proceedings of the 17th International Conference of the Learning Sciences - ICLS 2023 (pp. 2137-2138).

Vakil, S., & McKinney de Royston, M. (2022). Youth as philosophers of technology. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 29(4), 336-355.

Vakil, S. (2020). “I’ve Always Been Scared That Someday I’m Going to Sell Out”: Exploring the relationship between Political Identity and Learning in Computer Science Education. Cognition and Instruction, 38(2), 87-115.

Vakil, S. & Elham, B. (2020). Theorizing the politics of identity in engineering: Reflections from the University of Tehran, Iran. In Proceedings of International Conferences of the Learning Sciences.

Vakil, S., & Higgs, J. (2019). It’s about power: A call to rethink ethics and equity in computing education. Communications of the ACM: 31-33.

Vakil, S (2018). Ethics, Identity, and Political Vision: Toward a Justice-Centered Approach to Equity in Computer Science Education. Harvard Educational Review: 26-52.

Nasir, N., Vakil, S. (2017). STEM-focused academies in urban schools: Tensions and possibilities. Journal of the Learning Sciences: 376-406.

Vakil, S., McKinney de Royston, M., Nasir, N., & Kirshner, B. (2016). Rethinking race and power in design-based research: Reflections from the field. Cognition and Instruction: 194-209.

Presentations

Vakil, S. (2024). Responsible AI and Tech Justice: A Guide for K-12 Education. Keynote presentation for the Kapor Foundation. January 16, 2024.

Vakil, S. (2023). The Three Tents of Computing Education and Implications for Equity. Keynote presentation for the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) annual conference. July 1, 2023.

Vakil, S. (2023). What should we be toasting to? The bread, salt, and wine of K12 computing and engineering education. AERA Jan Hawkins award presentation. April 15, 2023. Chicago, IL.

Vakil, S. (2023). Making Sense of Machine Learning: Integrating Youth’s Conceptual, Creative, and Critical Understandings of AI. Discussant for symposium at the International Conferences of the Learning Sciences. Montreal, Canada.

Moore, S., Davey, B., & Vakil, S. (2023). Ethical Complexity in Youth-Led Computer Science Curriculum Writing: Emergent Ethical Deliberation in Curricular Co-design. Poster presentation at International Conference of the Learning Sciences, Montreal, Canada.

Vakil, S., Weith, A., & Melo, N. (2023). Building community agency through participatory tech education. Symposium presentation at National Association of Research on Science Teaching (NASRT), Chicago, Illinois.

Davey, B., & Vakil, S. (2023). Exploring the ‘what’ and ‘why’ in student generated CS curriculum. Poster presentation at National Association of Research on Science Teaching (NASRT), Chicago, Illinois.

Vakil, S., Reith, A., Logan, C., Moore, S., Scott, A., & White, S. (2023). Pragmatic Sensemaking: How philosophy and critical pedagogy support learning about the politics of cryptotechnologies in an out of school STEM program. Paper presentation at American Educational Research Association Conference, Chicago, Illinois.

Vakil, S., Van Wart, S., & Melo, N. (2023). Developing AI Literacy by examining the politics of internet platform. Symposium presentation at American Educational Research Association Conference, Chicago, Illinois.

Reith, A., Melo, N., Vakil, S., Scott, A., & White, S. (2023). Thinking through epistemology, ethics, and relationality in CS education: reflections from the TREE Lab. Symposium presentation at American Educational Research Association Conference, Chicago, Illinois.

Vakil, S. (2022). Rethinking the grammar of computational literacies: Local, Global, and Philosophical Perspectives. Learning Sciences Brown Bag. Indiana University. Nov 7, 2022.

Vakil, S. (2022). Youth Civics and Technology: A Pragmatic Approach. Uppsalla University, Uppsalla, Sweden. June 5, 2022.