Integrating Squeak into a Community: A Collaborative Effort

Helping teachers to change practices by adopting new tools and pedagogical approaches is of interest to a wide range of educational researchers and practitioners. We describe a project that has addressed issues surrounding the adoption of a technology tool into a local community. We examine the impact Squeak, an object-orientated programming environment, had on project participants. We observed that both teachers and students developed reasoning and problem-solving skills while using this tool. In order to be successfully integrated, an innovative educational technology requires a collaborative effort between multiple partners. We discuss implications in the context of usability, scalability and sustainability.