Call for Participation

Call for Participation

We are excited to announce a call for papers for the Constructionism 2023 conference taking place October 7-11th in New York City at Teachers College, Columbia University. 

The theme of Constructionism 2023 is “Building the Future of Constructionism.” The first instantiation of constructionist ideas crystallized in the form of the Logo programming language in 1967. Since then, Logo has evolved immensely, and its DNA can be found in hundreds of programming languages such as Scratch, NetLogo, Snap, not to mention myriad projects in educational robotics and construction kits. Constructionism also introduced the idea of epistemological pluralism, which is today pervasive throughout educational research. Educators, designers, scholars, and children have continued to build, remix, and evolve the core commitments and theories of constructionist design. What was famously articulated as being “consciously engaged in constructing a public entity, whether it’s a sand castle on the beach or a theory of the universe” (Papert & Harel, 1991) can be found in educational movements around computer science education, making, AI, data science, and in learning environments, curricula, and products around the world. Constructionism has not been static!

The conference itself has evolved over the years. Solomon et al. (2020) note that while the community began as the British Logo User group in 1983, the conference was eventually renamed “EuroLogo” in 1987 as the community grew. Again, in 2010, to reflect the diversity of expertise and tools in the community, the conference was renamed Constructionism, which we are thrilled to bring to New York City in 2023!

Our goal for Constructionism 2023 is to look forward. To plot future educational expeditions, novel technological innovations, and new social learning ecologies. It is appropriate and important to acknowledge the long and rich history of our community. But, like the kid clicking the “remix” button of a project, we want to use this history and intellectual work as a starting point for something new, something grander, something weirder, something more powerful.

One way we hope to “Build the Future of Constructionism” is to begin expanding our community. This year we are excited to collaborate with FabLearn to host a joint conference! FabLearn is the premiere conference on maker education attended by researchers, educators, and children to discuss and share hands-on projects, constructionist technologies, and empirical research. FabLearn, too, has evolved since its maker education origins to include other approaches and technologies, overlapping even more with the Constructionist world–so we are very excited to bring these two communities together for the 2023 conference.

And so, as we always do, we invite you to submit research papers, best practice papers, symposia, work-in-progress posters, workshops, or papers describing emerging and new constructionist media. We welcome and encourage submissions from multiple sectors and fields, including but not limited to academia, industry, and education, aiming for transdisciplinarity.

Key information for all submissions

Key Dates: times midnight Eastern Time, USA

  • Submission deadline (Research and Symposia): May 8, 2023 (Final Extension!)
  • Submission deadline (Educator, Young Maker, Workshops, WIP, and all other categories): May 23, 2023
  • Notification of acceptance for all categories: July 16, 2023
  • Registration opens: August 14, 2023
  • Early bird registration: August 14 – September 3, 2023
  • Normal registration: September 4, 2023
  • Conference: October 7-11, 2023

Submission Types for Constructionism/FabLearn 2023:

All submissions will be made via EasyChair.

For more details about each submission type, please see the submission guidelines. If you haven’t already, please join the community mailing list!