Professor, Informatics
Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences

Professor, Education
School of Education

Arts, Computational Technologies, Computer Science, Constructionism, Creativity, Design, Education, E-Textiles, Gaming, Maker Culture, New Media, Out-of-School Learning, Wearable Computing

Latest news, projects and reports from Kylie Peppler

The Creativity Labs website

2023 Best Research Paper Award, Connected Learning Summit
2023 One of 54 teams selected to advance in the NSF-sponsored VITAL Prize Challenge Semi-Final Round
2023 One of 100 teams selected to advance in the NSF-sponsored VITAL Prize Challenge Discovery Round
2023 The ACM CHI “Honorable Mention Award”
2022 NSF STEM for ALL Video Showcase Award
2021 ASEE Pre-College Engineering Education (PCEE) Division's Best Paper Award
2019 Voted 1 of 20 SIGCSE Top Ten Papers of All Time Award
2019 Certificate for Engaged Instruction, UCI Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation
2018 NSF STEM for ALL Video Showcase award for The BioSim Project: BeeSim
2017 One of 10 Women Championing Connected Learning
2017 Early Career Alumni Award from IU's Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
2017 University of Otago Research Fellow
2016 NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award Recipient
2016 MIRA Tech Educator of the Year from TechPoint
2014 Outstanding Junior Faculty Award from Indiana University
2009 Indiana Governor’s Award for Tomorrow’s Leaders
2007 UC Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship
2006 Spencer Dissertation Fellowship for Research Related to Education

Associate Professor, Joint Appointment in the Department of Informatics & School of Education, UC Irvine, 2018 – 2021
Associate Professor, Learning Sciences, School of Education, Indiana University, 2015 – 2018
Visiting Scholar, School of Education, Stanford University, 2016-2017
Assistant Professor, Learning Sciences, School of Education, Indiana University, 2008 – 2015
Postdoctoral Research Associate — University of California, Irvine, 2007–2008

An artist by training, Dr. Peppler is a professor of Informatics & Education at University of California, Irvine who engages in research that focuses on the intersection of arts, computational technologies and interest-driven learning. She holds a Ph.D. in Urban Schooling from UCLA, where she was part of the NSF-sponsored team that designed and studied the Scratch platform, which garnered her a Dissertation Research Award from the Spencer Foundation. After serving as a UC Presidential Postdoctoral Scholar at UC Irvine, Dr. Peppler joined the Learning Sciences faculty at Indiana University-Bloomington in 2008. Upon joining the UC Irvine faculty in 2018, Dr. Peppler brought her research group, the Creativity Labs, to be a part of UCI’s Connected Learning Lab, where she brings together educators, designers, artists, and learning theorists interested in supporting learning by leveraging youths' interests in digital culture, design, and making.

Dr. Peppler earned an NSF early CAREER award for her work on how e-textiles and other computational construction kits popularized through the Maker movement can deepen learning and broaden participation across a range of STEM fields. Dr. Peppler’s studies have been published in leading journals in the fields of education, technology and the arts, including Computers & Human Behavior; Mind, Culture & Activity; British Journal of Educational Technology; Journal of Science and Educational Technology; Studies in Arts Education; Review of Research in Education; Teachers College Record; and Learning, Media & Technology, among many others. Additionally, Dr. Peppler is the author or editor of over 10 books published by a range of outlets, including MIT Press, Peter Lang, Routledge, SAGE Publications, and Teachers College Press.

Through this work, Dr. Peppler has received several awards, including the Mira Tech Educator of the Year, ASEE Pre-College Engineering Education (PCEE) Division's Best Paper Award, Indiana Governor's Award for Tomorrow’s Leaders, 1 of 20 nominated for thee Special Interest Group for Computer Science Education (SIGCSE)'s Top 10 Papers of All Time, Outstanding Junior Faculty Award from Indiana University, and Outstanding Alumni Early Career Award from Psychological and Brain Studies at Indiana University. Her work has been consistently supported by the National Science Foundation as well as a range of foundations, federal and industry partners, including the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Wallace Foundation, Google.org, Wellcome Trust, US Department of Education, Boeing, Indiana Department of Education, New York Community Trust, Chicago Community Trust, Best Buy, Fossil Foundation, GAP Inc., National Geographic, as well as the Center for Craft, Creativity, and Design.

Dr. Peppler sits on the Editorial Boards for the International Journal for Computer Supported Collaborative Learning, Reading Research Quarterly, and Computer Science Education and has recently served as Guest Editor for the British Journal of Educational Technology and Sustainability. Dr. Peppler was also the lead editor of the two-volume SAGE Encyclopedia of Out-of-School Learning as well as the Makeology series, among other volumes.

Peppler, K., Sedas, M., & Thompson, N. (2023). Paper Circuits vs. Breadboards: Materializing Learners’ Powerful Ideas Around Circuitry and Layout Design. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 32, 469–492. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-023-10029-0

Keune, A., Yankova, N., & Peppler, K. (2022). #quiltsforpulse: Connected and shared production-centered socio-political activism through craftivism. Learning, Media and Technology, 47(2), 251-267. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2021.1961147

Peppler, K., Sedas, R. M., & Dahn, M. (2020). Making at home: Interest-driven practices and supportive relationships in minoritized homes. Education Sciences, 10(5), 143, 1-28. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/educsci10050143

Keune, A., Peppler, K., & Wohlwend, K. (2019). Recognition in makerspaces: Supporting opportunities for women to “make” a STEM career. Computers and Human Behavior, 99, 368-380. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.05.013

Peppler, K. & Wohlwend, K. (2017). Theorizing the nexus of STEAM practice. In J. Katz-Buonincontro and C. Conway (Eds.) Arts Education Policy Review Special Issue: Gathering STEAM, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1080/10632913.2017.1316331

Peppler, K., Halverson, E. & Kafai, Y. (Eds.) (2016). Makeology: Makerspaces as learning environments (volume 1). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315726519

Peppler, K. & Bender, S. (2013). Maker movement spreads innovation one project at a time. Phi Delta Kappan, 95(3), 22 - 27. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F003172171309500306

Kafai, Y. & Peppler, K. (2011). Youth, technology, and DIY: Developing participatory competencies in creative media production. In V. L. Gadsden, S. Wortham, and R. Lukose (Eds.), Youth Cultures, Language and Literacy. Review of Research in Education, 34(1), 89-119. https://doi.org/10.3102%2F0091732X10383211

Peppler, K. (2010). Media arts: Arts education for a digital age. Teachers College Record, 112(8), 2118–2153. http://kpeppler.com/Docs/2010_Peppler_Media_Arts.pdf

Maloney, J., Peppler, K., Kafai, Y. B., Resnick, M. & Rusk, N. (2008). Programming by choice: Urban youth learning programming with Scratch. Proceedings of the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE), 367-371. Portland, OR. https://doi.org/10.1145/1352322.1352260

Peppler, K. & Kafai, Y. (2007). From Supergoo to Scratch: Exploring creative digital media production in informal learning. Learning, Media, and Technology, 32(2), 149-166. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439880701343337

Bevan, B., Scarff, L., Bell, P., Peppler, K., Sefton-Green, J., and Soep, L. ($1,952,296.00; January 2017 – December 2022). SciLeaning+ Phase 2: 21st Century ISE Art + Science: Hybridity as a Means for STEM Educational Equity. The National Science Foundation / Wellcome Trust.

Börner, K, Peppler, K, et al. ($2,526,554; August 2016 – July 2021). Understanding and Improving Data Visualization Literacy: Research and Tool Development to Empower General Audiences to Read and Make Data Visualizations (DRL #1713567). The National Science Foundation.

Peppler, K. ($499,964; August 2016 – July 2021). CAREER: Designing a New Nexus: Examining the Social Construction of Electronics and Computing Toolkits to Broaden Participation and Deepen Learning (#1453195). The National Science Foundation.

Ramani, K., Peppler, K., Acemonglu, D., Redick, T., Nof, S., & Quinn, A. ($2,500,000 with $300,002 to Kylie Peppler; August 2018-September 2022). Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier (FW-HTF): Pre-skilling workers, understanding labor force implications and designing future factory human-robot workflows using a physical simulation platform (DUE-1931227). The National Science Foundation.

Peppler, K. ($99,000; October 2019 – September 2022). Teaching and Learning through the Arts. Chicago Arts Education Partnerships and 21st Century Community Learning Centers.

Peppler, K. ($100,000; August 2020 – June 2022). Connected Arts Learning: Connecting Interests, Opportunities, and Relationships in Out-of-School Arts. The Wallace Foundation.

Peppler, K. & Ito, M. ($249,080; January 2021-December 2022). Making Connections Across Settings to Support STEM Learning Transitions for Middle School Girls. STEM Next Opportunity Fund. Grant from The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

Peppler, K., Rose, C. & M. Orta Martinez ($1,750,000; September 2021-September 2025). Re-Crafting Computer Science: Concretizing Computational Thinking Through Tangible Fiber Crafts (ECR-EHR-2100401). The National Science Foundation.

Peppler, K. ($75,000; July 2021 – June 2022). Classroom Orchestration Phase 2. Digital Promise Global.

Peppler, K., Sefton-Green, J., Mejias, S. & Di Giacomo, D. ($1,855,250, September 1, 2021- January 31, 2025). Tracing the Enduring Effects of Community Arts Programs (TEECAP). The Wallace Foundation.

Peppler, K. & Ito, M. ($600,000, July 1, 2023 - 2026). Making Connections Across Settings to Support STEM Learning Transitions for Middle School Girls. STEM Next Opportunity Fund / Samueli Foundation.

Peppler, K. & Ito, M. ($400,000; August 2023-July 2025). Phase 2 Supplement: Making Connections Across Settings to Support STEM Learning Transitions for Middle School Girls. STEM Next Opportunity Fund / The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

Zhang, Y., Peng, C., Peppler, K. ($150,000; September 2022 - August 2024). Exploring Tacit Knowledge with Artificial Intelligence and Virtual/Augmented Reality for Future Machinists Preparation (#2222853). The National Science Foundation.

Peppler, K. ($100,000, July 2023-June 2024). Universal Designs for Learning in Math: Equatio. Digital Promise Global.

International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS)

American Educational Research Association (AERA)

Director
The Creativity Labs 2008—now

Education

The Creativity Labs

Connected Learning Lab

Link to this profile
https://faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=6459

Last updated
04/28/2024