Electronic Textiles in Computer Science Education: A Synthesis of Efforts to Broaden Participation, Increase Interest, and Deepen Learning

Just over a decade ago, various electronic textile construction kits have emerged with Arduino-based microcontrollers, sensors, and actuators that can be sewn together with conductive thread to create wearables augmented with new functionalities. These kits were designed to broaden participation in and perspectives about computing along with introducing learners to powerful ideas about circuitry and coding. In this paper, we synthesize 46 studies that have introduced crafts, circuitry, and coding concepts with e-textiles in K-16 education. We found that e-textiles have been successful in broadening participation and increasing interest in computing for many youth and adults, especially from underrepresented groups, inside and outside of school. While the e-textiles construction kits have been successful in deepening learning of circuitry concepts, learning of computer science, especially advanced concepts, has been far less attended to with the exception of projects designed by undergraduate students with already significant disciplinary expertise. In the discussion, we suggest directions for future research such as bringing more computing into e-textile designs, creating assessments to capture coding and circuitry learning, and developing models for more advanced projects to leverage the potential of e-textiles for computer science education.