TEI
TEI 2026 Graduate Student Consortium
Problem & Motivation
RESEARCH CONTEXT
"Tangible programming makes computation visible, yet rigid constraints often limit creative exploration."
Tangible programming relies on predefined physical blocks. When learners want to go beyond these boundaries, the lack of physical representations limits their creative expression and project complexity.
Novices struggle to bridge the gap between their design intentions and actual code behavior. Debugging physical-digital systems without guidance is cognitively demanding and often discouraging.
Effective creative learning requires just-in-time support. We need systems that can offer personalized scaffolding to help learners iteratively refine their designs and discover new coding concepts through open-ended play.
Jin Yu | Georgia Institute of Technology
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