(For a list of publications sorted by subject, not date, please click here: Publications by Subject)

Publications and Conferences

--2012--

• Bers, M. U., & Ettinger, A. B. (2012). Programming Robots in Kindergarten to Express Identity: An Ethnographic Analysis. In B. Barker, G. Nugent, N. Grandgenett, & V. Adamchuk (Eds.), Robots in K-12 Education: A New Technology for Learning (pp. 168-184). doi:10.4018/978-1-4666-0182-6.ch008
• Now out! Bers, M. U. (2012). Designing digital experiences for positive youth development: From playpen to playground. Cary, NC: Oxford. (See flyer)
  
  
• Bers, M. U. & Cantrell, K (2012). Virtual worlds for children with medical conditions: Experiences for promoting positive youth development. In Å. Smedberg (Ed.), E-health communities and online self-help groups: Applications and usage (1-23). Hershey, PA: Medical Information Science Reference.
• Bers, M. & Kazakoff, E. (in press). Developmental Technologies: Technology and Human Development. In Lerner, R.M., Easterbrooks, M.A., Mistry, J., & Weiner, I.B. (Eds.) Handbook of Psychology, Developmental Psychology.

--2011--

• Satoh, K., & Bers, M. (2011, December). Zora: A Virtual Community of Pediatric Transplant Patients. Poster session presented at the Noonan Research Fund Symposium, Cambridge, MA.
• Horn, M.S., Crouser, R.J., & Bers, M.U. (2011). Tangible Interaction and Learning: The Case for a Hybrid Approach. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing (special issue on Tangibles and Children). DOI: 10.1007/s00779-011-0404-2 (online first, forthcoming volume)
• Shaer, O. Bers, M. Chang, M. Chang, (2011) Making the Invisible Tangible: Learning Biological Engineering in Kindergarten. ACM CHI 2011 Workshop on User Interface Technology and Educational Pedagogy, ACM: CHI 2011.
• Bers, M., & Cantrell, K. (Forthcoming, May 2011). Virtual worlds for children with medical conditions: Experiences for promoting positive youth development. In A. Smedberg's E-Health Communities and Online Self Help Groups: Applications and Usage.
• Kazakoff, E.R., & Bers, M.U. (2011). The Impact of Computer Programming on Sequencing Ability in Early Childhood. Paper presented at American Educational Research Association Conference(AERA), 8 - 12 April, 2011, Louisiana: New Orleans.
• Kazakoff, E.R., & Bers, M.U. (2011). Kindergarten Robotics: Understanding and Programming Robots in Early Childhood, Poster presented at Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) Annual Conference, 31 March - 2 April, 2011, Canada: Montreal.
• Kazakoff, E.R., & Flannery, L. (2011). Kindergarten Robotics Workshop to conducted at the Digital Media and Learning Conference, 2 - 5 March 2011, California: Los Angeles.


• Cantrell, K., & Bers, M. (2011). Psycho-educational technologies for children with cancer. Proceedings at the National Conference on Cancer Nursing Reserach, 12-13 February 2011, California: Los Angeles.

--2010--

• Edited Volume: Bers, M.U. (Winter 2010). New Directions for Youth Development. Special Issue: New Media and Technology: Youth as Content Creators, Issue 128.

• Bers, M.U. (2010). Beyond computer literacy: Supporting youth's positive development through technology. New Directions for Youth Development, 128, 13 - 23.
• Bers, M.U. (2010). The TangibleK Robotics Program: Applied Computational Thinking for Young Children. Early Childhood Research and Practice, 12(2).
• Beals, L.M. (2010). Content creation in virtual worlds to support adolescent identity development. New Directions for Youth Development, 128, 45 - 54.
• Chau, C. (2010). YouTube as a participatory culture. New Directions for Youth Development, 128, 65-74.
• Hauser, S.H.I ., Golberg, G., Wilde, P.E., Bers, M.U., Ioannone, L., & Economos, C.D. (2010) Comparison of Online and Face-to-Face Dissemination of a Theory-Based After School Nutrition and Physical Activity Training and Curriculum. Journal of Health and Communication, 15(8), 859 - 879.
• Cantrell, K., Fischer, A., Bouzaher, A., & Bers, M. (2010). E-mentorship in virtual communities for youth transplant recipients. Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing, 27(6), 344-355.
• Kazakoff, E.R., & Bers, M.U. (2010). Computer programming in kindergarten: The role of sequencing. (Large .pptx File) Proceedings of the ICERI 2010 International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation, 15-17 November 2010, Spain: Madrid. (Virtual Paper Presentation)


• Cantrell, K. & Bers, M. (2010) Virtual communities to augment psychosocial care. Proceedings of the Association of Virtual Worlds Conference, 10 November 2010, Massachusetts: Boston.
• Cantrell, K. & Bers, M. (2010) Zora Camp4All: Virtual community for youth with cancer. Proceedings from the International Society of Pediatric Oncology- Pediatric Psycho-Oncology Pre-meeting. 21-23 October 2010, Massachusetts: Boston. (Poster and Presentation)
• Cantrell, K., & Bers, M. (2010). Zora Camp4All: A virtual community to augment the hopefulness of pediatric camping. Child Life Focus, 28(3), 1-7.
• Bers, M. (2010). Let the Games Begin: Civic Playing on High-Tech Consoles. Review of General Psychology, 14(2), 147–153.
• Beals, L., & Bers, M.U. (2010). Evaluating participation in an international bilingual virtual world educational intervention for youth. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, 2(5).
• Bers, M. (Accepted for publication). Parents and children: Engaging in positive technological development through robotics. Early Childhood Development and Care . Article accepted for upcoming special issue on Ecological Perspectives on Children's ICT Experiences.
• Bers, M., Beals, L., Chau, C., Satoh, K., and Khan, N. (2010). Virtual worlds for young people in a program context: Lessons from four case studies. New Science of Learning: Cognition, Computers, and Collaboration in Education. (Eds. M. Khine and I. Saleh). pp. 357-383. Springer Publishing Company.
• Bers, M., Beals, L., Chau, C., Satoh, K., Blume, B., DeMaso, D., & Gonzalez-Heydrich, J. (2010). Use of a virtual community as a psychosocial support system in pediatric transplantation. Pediatric Transplantation, 14, 261-267. Editorial
• Bers, M & Chau, C. (2010). The virtual campus of the future: stimulating and simulating civic actions in a virtual world. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 22(1), 1-23.
• Bers., M. (2010). When robots tell a story about culture...and children tell a story about learning. In N. Yelland, (Ed.) Contemporary Perspective on Early Childhood Education. pp. 227-247. Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press.
• Bers, M. & Horn, M. (2010). Tangible programming in early childhood: Revisiting developmental assumptions through new technologies. In I. R. Berson & M. J. Berson (Eds), High-tech tots: Childhood in a digital world. pp. 49-70. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.

--2009--

• Bers, M., Lynch, A. D., & Chau, C. (2009). Positive technological development: The multifaceted nature of youth technology use towards improving self and society. In Ching, C.C. & Foley, B. J. (Eds.) Technology, Learning, and Identity: Research on the Development and Exploration of Selves in a Digital World. Cambridge University Press.


• Horn, M., Bers, M., & Jacob, R. (2009). Tangible programming in education: A research approach. Presented at CHI'09, April 2009, Boston, MA.


• Beals, L. & Bers, M.U. (2009). A developmental lens for designing virtual worlds for children and youth. The International Journal of Learning and Media, 1(1), 51-65.


• Bers, M. U. (2009). New Media for New Organs: A Virtual Community for Pediatric Post-Transplant Patients. Convergence: The Journal of Research into New Media Technologies. 15(4), 462-469.

--2008--

• Bers, M. U. (2008). Virtual Worlds as Digital Playgrounds. EDUCAUSE Review, 43(5), 80-81.
• Bers, M. U. (2008). A Palace in Time: Supporting Children's Spiritual Development through New Technologies. In Youth, Development & Spirituality: From Theory to Research . (Eds) Richard Lerner, Robert Roeser, & Erin Phelps. Templeton Foundation Press: West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.339-358.
• Bers, M. U. (2008). Civic identities, online technologies: from designing civic curriculum to supporting civic experiences. Civic Life Online: Learning how digital media can engage youth. Bennett, W. L. (Ed.). The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundations Series on Digital Media and Learning. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. 139-160.
• Bers, M. (2008). Engineers and storytellers: Using robotic manipulatives to develop technological fluency in early childhood. In O. Saracho & B. Spodek (Eds). Contemporary Perspectives on Science and Technology in Early Childhood Education.(pp. 105-125). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. (Order the book from Amazon.com)
• Bers, M. (2008). Blocks to Robots: Learning with Technology in the Early Childhood Classroom. Teachers College Press, NY, NY.
  
  
  
  (Order from Amazon.com)

--2007--

• Bers, M., Chau, C., Satoh, K., & Beals, L. (2007). Virtual Communities of Care: Online Peer Networks with Post-Organ Transplant Youth. Proceedings of the 2007 Computer Supported Collaborative Learning Conference, New Brunswick, NJ.
• Bers, M. (2007). Project InterActions: A multigenerational robotic learning environment. Journal of Science and Technology Education. 16(6 ), 537-552
• Bers, M. (2007). Positive Technological Development: Working with computers, children, and the Internet. MassPsych,51(1), 5-7, 18-19.

--2006--

• Bers, M., & Chau, C. (2006). Fostering civic engagement by building a virtual city. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(3). article 4.
• Bers, M (2006) The role of new technologies to foster positive youth development. Applied Developmental Science. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ, 10(4), 200-219.
• Beals, L. & Bers, M. (2006). Robotic Technologies: When Parents Put Their Learning Ahead of their ChildÂ’s. Journal of Interactive Learning Research. 17(4), 341-366.

--2005--

• Kahn, J & Bers, M (2005) An Examination of Early Elementary Student’s Approach to Engineering Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition, American Society for Engineering Education.
• Staszowski & Bers, M (2005) The Effects of Peer Interactions on the Development of Technological Fluency in an Early-Childhood, Robotic Learning EnvironmentProceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition, American Society for Engineering Education.
• Bers, M & Portsmore, M (2005) Teaching Partnerships: Early childhood and engineering students teaching math and science through robotics Journal of Science Education and Technology , vol 14, N1 pp 59-74 NY: Springer

--2004--

• Bers, M, New, B. & Boudreau, L (2004) Teaching and learning when no one is expert: Children and parents explore technology Journal of Early Childhood Research and Practice.

--2003--

• Bers, M (2003) Kaleidostories: Teachers and Students Creating a Cross Cultural Virtual Community through Narrative. Convergence: The Journal of Research into New Media Technologies. 9(2), pp. 54-8). Bedforshire:UK.
• Bers, M. (2003) We Are What We Tell: Designing Narrative Environments for Children In Narrative Intelligence. Edited by P.Sengers & Mateas. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
• Bers, M, Gonzalez-Heydrich,G., DeMaso, D. (2003) Use of a Computer-Based Application in a Pediatric Hemodialysis Unit: A Pilot Study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 42:4, April 2003
• Bers, M, Gonzalez-Heydrich,G., DeMaso, D. (2002) Future of Technology to Augment Patient Support in Hospitals. Studies in health, technology and informatics . 80:231-44.

--2002--

• Bers, M, Ponte,I, Juelich, K, Viera, A, Schenker, J (2002) Teachers as Designers: Integrating Robotics in Early Childhood Education" Information Technology in Childhood Education. (2002), AACE 123-145

--2001--

• Bers, M. (2001) Identity Construction Environments: developing personal and moral values through the design of a virtual city. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 10 (4) pp 365-415. NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
• Bers, M, Gonzalez-Heydrich,J., DeMaso, D. (2001) Identity Construction Environments: Supporting a Virtual Therapeutic Community of Pediatric Patients undergoing Dialysis. In Proceedings of Computer-Human Interaction (CHI'01) ACM. pp. 380-387
• Bers, M, Gonzalez-Heydrich, J., Raches, D., DeMaso, D. (2001) Zora: A Pilot Virtual Community in the Pediatric Dialysis Unit. Amsterdam: IOS Press, pp 800-804.

--2000--

• Bers, M. & Urrea, C (2000) Technological Prayers: Parents and Children Exploring Robotics and Values. In Robots for Kids: Exploring New Technologies for Learning Experiences. Edited by A. Druin & J. Hendler. NY: Morgan Kaufman, pp. 194-217.
• Bers, M & Cassell, J. (2000) Children as Designers of Interactive Storytellers: Let Me Tell You a Story about Myself In Human Cognition and Social Agent Technology.Edited by Kerstin Dautenhahn. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp. 61-83
• Bers,M., Gonzalez-Heydrich,G., DeMaso, D., Corsini, E. & Harmon, W. (2000) Zora: A Pilot Virtual Community in the Pediatric Dialysis Unit Abstract accepted for American Society for Pediatrics meeting in Boston, MA. May 2000.

--1999--

• Bers, M. (1999) Zora: a Graphical Multi-user Environment to Share Stories about the Self. In Proceedings of Computer Support for Collaborative Learning (CSCL'99), pp. 33-40.
• Bers, M. & Best, M. (1999) Rural Connected Communities: A Project in Online Collaborative Journalism. In Proceedings of Computer Support for Collaborative Learning (CSCL'99), pp. 41-46.
• Bers, M. (1999) Narrative Construction Kits: Who am I? Who are you? What are we?. In Proceedings of Narrative Intelligence Fall Symposium, AAAI'99. pp. 44-51.
• Bers, M. &Urrea C. (1999) Con-science: Parents and Children Exploring Robotics and Values. In Proceedings of EUROLOGO'99, Sofia, Bulgaria, pp. 356-366.
• Bers, M & Cassell, J.(1999) Interactive Storytelling Systems for children: using technology to explore language and identity. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, volume 9 (2), AACE,pp. 603-609.

--1998--

• Bers, M. (1998) A constructionist approach to values through on-line narrative tools. In Proceedings of International Conference for the Learning Sciences (ICLS'98), AACE, pp 49-55.
• Bers, M & Bergman, S. (1998) A constructionist perspective on values: a response to postmodern fragmented identity. Identity, formation, dignity: The impacts of Artificial Intelligence upon Jewish and Christian Understandings of Personhood"(4/ 30-5/2 1998)conference organized by The Boston Theological Institute, MIT AI Lab and Center for Faith and Science Exchange.
• Bers et al (1998) Interactive Storytelling Environments: Coping with Cardiac Illness at Boston's Children's Hospital (with Ackermann, E.; Cassell, J.; Donegan, B.; Gonzalez-Heydrich, J.; DeMaso, D.; Strohecker, C.; Lualdi, S.; Bromley, D.; Karlin, J.)In Proceedings of Computer-Human Interaction (CHI'98) ACM, pp. 603-609.
• Gonzalez-Heydrich J, Bromley D, Strohecker C, Marks J, DeMaso DR, Ackermann E, Gibson S, Shen C, Umaschi M. (1998) Experience journals: Using computers to share personal stories about illness and medical intervention." MedInf'98, 9th World Congress on Medical Informatics. IOS Press. 1998, pp. 1323-1327.

--1997--

• Umaschi, M & Cassell, J (1997) Storytelling Systems: Constructing the Innerface of the Interface. Cognitive Technologies Procedings '97, IEEE, pp.98-108.
• Umaschi, M (1997) Soft Toys with Computer Hearts: Building Personal Storytelling Environments Published in CHI'97 Proceedings, ACM, pp. 20-21 (HTML format)
• Glos, J & Umaschi, M (1997) Once Upon an Object: Computationally-augmented Toys for Storytelling ICCIMA '97 Conference Proceedings; Gold Coast, Australia. pp. 245-249.

--1996--

• Umaschi, M (1996) SAGE Storytellers: Learning about Identity, Language and Technology. Published in Proceedings of ICLS '96 , AACE, pp.526-531.
• Umaschi, M (1996) Rabbi: exploring the inner world through stories. Published in AAAI 96 Proceedings, Student Abstracts, Volume II, MIT Press, pp. 1413 (ps format).