This blog site lists Professor Yasmin Kafai’s (and others’) publications studying youth’s use of the introductory programming language Scratch and the virtual educational world Whyville.

Scratch: Developed at the MIT Media Lab, Scratch allows kids to create their own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art while also learning basic programming concepts.

To download Scratch for free visit: scratch.mit.edu 

Whyville: Created by Numedeon, Whyville is an  educational virtual world specifically geared towards tweens. With a player base of over 5 million, Whyville allows particpants to socialize in a virtual environment why also engaging its users to learn about a broad range of topics, including science, business, art, and geography.

To visit Whyville: http://www.whyville.net/