Many tangible computational construction platforms are designed with new technologies and children's learning theories to assist children in learning computational concepts. This thesis explores how children learn computational concepts through these platforms, by focusing on three categories of tangible computational platforms: tangible programming systems, computational toolkits for crafts making, and computational interfaces for story creation. Our rationale for choosing these three categories is motivated by the hands-on learning theories argued by three influential educators: Montessori, Froebel and Vygotsky. Given this motivation, we design three dimensions of case studies: abstract thinking through functional blocks construction, creativity through crafts making and expression through stories creation, for analysis of children's learning of computational concepts vertically through three main categories of computational construction kits respectively. Each dimension of empirical studies obtains qualitative and quantitative results, and the results indicate that children have positive learning experience on each category of computational construction kits in different aspects. For the study in building functionality, we use a tangible programming system to study how children understand the abstract concepts by building functional blocks to simulate functions of smart clothing and flows of story, as well as computational concepts such as looping and branching. To study creativity through crafts making, three kinds of computational craft platforms are adopted as case studies. These are the Lilypad Arduino with TeeBoard platform, i*CATch apparel platform and i*CATch robotic platform. The focus is on crafts making in robotic and apparel domains, integrating traditional materials such as paper and cloth with the electronic devices. Through these three different design approaches of the computational craft platforms, we gain a deeper understanding of how children use

The development of creativity is parallel to the development and evolution of our culture and society, and researchers see creativity as the ultimate goal of education. Educators and researchers of design education believe that creativity can be developed in Design and Technology (D&T) classrooms at the secondary school level, as the design process in D&T relies on the development of novel, useful, and appropriate ideas. D&T is one of the best platforms to foster creativity, as it lends a kind of creative experience in realising objects which is distinctive from other subjects. However, the value of D&T at the secondary school level in Hong Kong is underestimated by the Hong Kong government, school administrators, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders. If creativity is important in education, there is no reason to neglect a subject which can foster creativity. This study investigates creativity and its roles in design education at the secondary school level. Its objectives are (i) to review and investigate how teachers, students, and policymakers understand creativity, (ii) to understand the practical issues in the design education classroom or school, (iii) to suggest possible methods for teaching creativity in design education, (iv) to identify the roles of creativity in design education, and (v) to identify the issues related to the cultivation of creativity in design education. Discussions of creativity are often related to four different areas: product, process, person, and environment. This study investigates these areas using a data triangulation approach. It begins by examining 46 exemplar design projects and their artefacts on the Hong Kong government website and public examination design projects on D&T syllabuses from 2005 to 2009. Thirteen interviews with Hong Kong teachers, students, and officers were conducted to understand issues of creativity in design education. This study finds that creativity is not fostered to its fullness in D&T. Some perceptions

Collaboration in design has become a geographically distributed and culturally dispersed activity. Increasingly, design educators see the need to prepare young designers for an international market by providing students with skills not only for design but also for intercultural communication.
This thesis investigates how design patterns for facilitating intercultural design education contexts can be identified through qualitative and comparative analysis of a long-term ethnographic study of cross-cultural computer-supported collaborative design learning. The core findings of this research are based on a three-year ethnographic study of intercultural computer-supported collaboration between groups of students from Hong Kong, Korea, Austria and Taiwan. A qualitative research approach was utilized for the discovery of regularities in the observed collaborations, and a comparative research approach was employed to discover similarities and differences across cultural contexts. Data from the first year was analyzed inductively to identify reoccurring themes in design collaboration. This guided the observation of collocated activity and analysis of online conversations in the second year of this study. A map of recurring design solutions was constructed from this analysis. Eleven design patterns were written based on this analysis and presented to designers for evaluation in a pattern workshop. Based on the feedback from this workshop, in the third year of this study an in-depth analysis of computer-mediated interaction between Hong Kong and Korean students, and their local tutors, was carried out. A deductive coding scheme, informed by theories of intercultural and cross-cultural communication research, was employed to guide the analysis and articulation of design patterns for intercultural collaboration.
Within this research, an inductive and deductive methodology for identifying and articulating design patterns was developed. Therein, eleven patterns for intercultural