Spools and Sparks: The Role of Materiality in Computational Making with E-textiles and BBC Micro:bit

This paper presents a qualitative investigation of materiality in computational making with e-textiles and the BBC micro:bit. We worked with 22 children aged 11 to 14 (9 girls and 13 boys) who completed projects, in a mixed Greek-English summer school. Our thematic analysis identified two key themes around the materiality of interaction design: (i) how materials “talk back” during design promotes computational making skills, and (ii) the interactive role of materiality and construction in supporting computational making. Our research demonstrates the criticality of understanding material properties of e-textiles to encourage children to concentrate on the aesthetic and science concepts of computational making. Finally, a key contribution of this paper is demonstrating the relevance of teaching materiality to allow children to engage with the fundamentals of somaesthetic experiences and embodied interaction as a starting point for age-appropriate tangible interaction design education.