About

Kylie Peppler is a member of the Creativity Labs team, which includes learning scientists, educators, artists, designers, and programmers. The team designs and studies in- and out-of-school learning experiences rooted in constructionist principles, particularly those around creativity, making, and learning. Their research focuses on how forms of learning associated with arts, crafts, and computational media can support creative production and innovation across the curriculum. By studying how maker culture and AI are transforming in- and out-of-school learning, they aim to uncover ways to make education more engaging, equitable, and forward-looking. The Creativity Labs also designs and researches new technologies to promote creative learning in youth communities, collaborating with a wide range of organizations including schools, libraries, community-based organizations, nonprofits, and technology firms.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Human–computer interaction
• Multimedia
• Political Science
• Sociology
• Engineering
• World Wide Web
• Engineering ethics
• Knowledge management
• Pedagogy
• Psychology
• Mathematics education
• Programming language
• Public relations
• Epistemology
• Management science
• Mechanical engineering
• Simulation
• Operating system

Selected publications

• AmIWrite: Exploring Scalable One-on-One Handwriting-Based Tutoring for Mathematical Problem-Solving with an LLM-Powered AI Tutor

  2026-04-13 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Real-time handwriting interactions between tutors and students —where tutors observe individual problem-solving processes, provide personalized annotations, and adapt explanations based on students’ work—are fundamental to effective STEM tutoring. However, scaling such personalized handwriting-based tutoring remains challenging—human tutors cannot be available to every student on demand, and current online platforms often fail to recreate equivalent learning experiences. As an initial step toward tackling this challenge, we present AmIWrite, an LLM-powered AI tutoring system for mathematical problem-solving that provides real-time co-speech handwriting interactions on tablet devices, instantiated here as a case study in linear algebra. We conducted a within-subjects study (N = 40) comparing AmIWrite to a text-based AI tutor on two linear algebra topics. Our case study demonstrates how a multimodal AI tutor can preserve the pedagogical benefits of handwriting-based math tutoring and offer a potential path toward more scalable one-on-one STEM tutoring.

  PublisherDOI

• Shifting Toward a Connected Perspective in an Out-of-School STEM Program

  Proceedings. · 2025-06-10

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Out-of-school time (OST) programs have a positive effect on fostering youth STEM interests and are important nodes in a STEM learning ecosystem.Despite this, leaders in OST programs often have an insular, org-focused mindset.By tracking two program leaders over a year, this study investigates the process and results of shifting toward a connected mindset.Findings show that brokering stronger connections with partners supported youth and resulted in greater participation in programs.Implications highlight how shifting toward a connected perspective can strengthen the nodes of a STEM learning ecosystem.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Reflective AI-Partnerships: How Middle Schoolers Balance Creativity and AI Collaboration

  Computer-supported collaborative learning/˜The œComputer-Supported Collaborative Learning Conference · 2025-06-10 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  This study explores how middle school students navigate collaboration with generative AI in storytelling, focusing on their ability to balance AI contributions with their creative agency.Conducted during a workshop with Story AI, an interactive narrative-writing platform, this research involved participants aged 6 to 12 years from a predominantly Latinx community.Data from surveys, interviews, and writing outputs reveal that students engaged in reflective practices and demonstrated an emerging ability to critically modulate AI contributions.These findings engage with recent CSCL studies, including Cress and Kimmerle's (2023) insights into knowledge transformation and Borge et al.'s (2024) exploration of metacognitive reflection, by situating co-writing as a dynamic context for fostering collaboration and agency.Implications include designing learning environments that explicitly scaffold student reflection on AI collaboration as an essential skill for navigating human-AI partnerships.This research highlights co-writing as a valuable avenue for advancing reflective and creative thinking in educational settings. BackgroundRecent research in CSCL has advanced conceptualizations of AI-human collaborations.For example, Cress and Kimmerle (2023) describe the potential of generative AI to enable "knowledge transformation," a process where iterative interactions between users and AI reshape storytelling into a collaborative act of deeper meaning-making.This underscores a shift from merely using AI as a tool to integrating it as a co-participant in learning, revealing the interplay between agency and technological mediation.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Materialized Action: Reformulating the “Doing of” Math Through Fiber Crafting

  Cognition and Instruction · 2025-05-21 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• "Hi Kids, Let's Talk About How Snakes Hunt": Understanding the Process of Children's Instructional Video Creation through a Workshop Study

  2025-06-23 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• NSF DUE: Everyday engineering: Leveraging craft to deepen engineering design and spatial visualization

  2025-08-21

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Spatial skills are crucial for success in STEM fields (e.g., Kersh et al., 2008; Case & Ganley, 2021), yet persistent gender disparities in spatial assessments continue to affect representation and achievement in these domains (Halpern, 2000; Lauer et al., 2019). While traditional research has documented male students outperforming female students in spatial tasks (Linn & Petersen, 1985; Sanders et al., 1982), recent studies suggest these differences may be influenced by assessment materials and methods rather than inherent abilities (e.g., Keune et al., 2021; Peppler et al., 2023; Bailey & Sims, 2014; Maryati & Prahmana, 2019). This research investigates how spatial visualization skills manifest in a fiber crafts activity, comparing the approaches of engineers and crafters to understand alternative pathways for Drawing on constructionist learning theory, which posits that knowledge emerges in diverse ways through engagement with the material world, we conducted artifact analysis sessions with 4 adult crafters and 6 adult engineers. Participants completed one standardized craft task: folding a 3-dimensional basket from felt. Video analysis of the 7 hours of recorded sessions revealed distinct approaches to spatial problem-solving between the two groups. Our findings challenge traditional assumptions about spatial reasoning. Crafters demonstrated successful spatial visualization through an intuitive, materials-first approach, integrating mental visualization with hands-on experimentation. In contrast, engineers' formal training often impeded practical problem-solving, as their emphasis on technical precision and extensive planning led to less functional solutions. These results suggest that engineering education might benefit from incorporating diverse approaches to spatial reasoning, particularly through craft-based activities that encourage direct material engagement and flexible problem-solving strategies. This study has significant implications for engineering education, suggesting that incorporating craft-based activities and validating multiple approaches to spatial reasoning could enhance spatial skill development while potentially addressing gender disparities in STEM fields. Our findings support the value of epistemological pluralism (i.e., multiple ways of knowing and problem-solving) in spatial skill development and suggest promising directions for transforming engineering education through the integration of novel tools and materials.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Exploring Human-AI Interactions Across Various Learning Tasks: Diverse Perspectives on Augmenting Learner

  Computer-supported collaborative learning/˜The œComputer-Supported Collaborative Learning Conference · 2025-06-10

  articleOpen access

  This symposium focuses on understanding learners' interactions with artificial intelligence (AI), particularly chatbots and agents, to advance human-AI collaboration research from the perspective of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL).The four papers discuss human-AI interactions in various learning tasks and domains, especially from an augmentation perspective.The studies examine how these interactions can support learning processes and how learners perceive AI as an interaction partner (or not).By exploring these augmentation dynamics across tasks and domains, the symposium contributes to the evolving understanding of human-AI collaboration in teaching and learning.The symposium's discussant will synthesize insights from these studies to shed light on how these studies contribute knowledge and how these approaches need to be further developed to contribute to future hybrid intelligence (HI) systems in education.discussant Mutlu Cukurova (10-min).This will allow for a 15-minute general discussion between the symposium participants and the session attendees.At the beginning of their presentation, each presenter will define how their current research advances human-AI collaboration research from the perspective of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) and contributes to the development of hybrid intelligence systems in education.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Beyond the Binary: Leaning on Materials-to-Queer-with in the “Doing of Mathematics”

  Proceedings. · 2025-06-10

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Grounded in queer theory and constructionism and drawing on methods in design-based research, this study traces the design and implementation of a queering of mathematics, situated in the context of an interdisciplinary undergraduate course.This study evaluates the ways in which binary oppositions were ruptured in the course, subverting normative practices through an engagement with materials-to-queer-with and uncovering new ways of engaging in the "doing of mathematics."

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Humanizing AI for Education: Conversations with the JLS 2026 Special Issue Contributors

  Proceedings. · 2025-06-10 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  This symposium will bring together the eight invited contributors for the 2026 special issue of the Journal of the Learning Sciences (JLS), which explores how educational researchers can humanize their designs of AI tools and activities for education.Each contributing author brings a unique perspective on what it means to humanize AI for education, working with different contexts, ages, and learning outcomes.Papers focus on a variety of layers of AI, including designing effective AI tools for learning, understanding how existing AI activities influence the learning process, and developing learners' literacies around ethical AI.In this session, authors will engage with attendees in rich conversations around how we should thoughtfully and ethically design AI futures in the learning sciences that center the needs of teachers, learners, their families, and their communities. Symposium overviewThere is an urgent need to thoughtfully integrate human-centered learning theories into the design and teaching of AI, highlighted by the public conversations occurring in governmental, educational, and industry sectors that seek to establish shared norms for how and why AI tools are used (e.g., The White House, 2023; UNESCO, 2023; Software & Industry Information Association, 2023).At the center of these discussions is a tension between technocentric views of AI that seek to improve the effectiveness and expand the reach of AI innovations and human-centered approaches that instead focus on the ethical, social, and pedagogical aspects of how AI impacts our classrooms and our world (Selwyn, 2024;Akgun & Greenhow, 2022).In this session, eight author teams who

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Weaving Collaboration: Promoting Effective Interdisciplinary Learning with a Robotic Loom

  Computer-supported collaborative learning/˜The œComputer-Supported Collaborative Learning Conference · 2025-06-10

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  This study investigates the conditions that foster effective interdisciplinary collaboration-defined as the integration of knowledge, practices, and perspectives from different disciplines-through qualitative analysis of project-based learning in higher education.Grounded in theories from the Learning Sciences and Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, we analyze how knowledge transfer and leadership dynamics mediate interdisciplinary engagement in a course combining robotics, mathematics, and textile arts.Systematic analysis of qualitative data from 23 undergraduate students across six groups reveals three distinct patterns of collaborative engagement.Our findings show that successful collaboration hinges on (1) fluid leadership transitions that leverage diverse expertise and (2) structured opportunities for knowledge exchange.Groups with distributed leadership and consistent knowledge-sharing practices produced higher-quality projects than those with centralized leadership.These findings contribute to theoretical understandings of interdisciplinary learning and offer practical guidelines for designing collaborative learning environments in higher education.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Re-Crafting Mathematics Education: Designing Tangible Manipulatives Rooted in Traditional Female Crafts

  NSF · $951k · 2014–2019

• CAREER: Designing a New Nexus: Examining the Social Construction of Electronics and Computing Toolkits to Broaden Participation and Deepen Learning

  NSF · $292k · 2018–2022

• DIP: BioSim: Developing a Wearable Toolkit for Teaching Complex Science Through Embodied Play

  NSF · $1.2M · 2013–2018

• FW-HTF: Collaborative Research: Pre-Skilling Workers, Understanding Labor Force Implications and Designing Future Factory Human-Robot Workflows Using a Physical Simulation Platform

  NSF · $300k · 2018–2022

• Major: Transactive Narrative: An Inclusive Game-Based Programming Context

  NSF · $798k · 2009–2013

Frequent coauthors

• Nichole Pinkard

  75 shared

• Maggie Dahn

  University of California, Irvine

  59 shared

• Anna Keune

  Technical University of Munich

  56 shared

• William R. Penuel

  University of Colorado Boulder

  50 shared

• Katie Headrick Taylor

  Cumbria Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust

  49 shared

• Barry Fishman

  University of California, Irvine

  49 shared

• Leslie Rupert Herrenkohl

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  49 shared

• Jiyoung Lee

  49 shared

Labs

• Creativity LabsPI

  The Creativity Labs brings together educators, designers, artists, and learning theorists interested in constructionist and hands-on, design-based learning.

Education

• Ph.D., Graduate School of Education of Information Studies

  University of California Los Angeles

  2007