Karen Brennan

I am the Timothy E. Wirth Professor of Practice in Learning Technologies at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where I direct the Creative Computing Lab, and an affiliate in Computer Science.

My research is primarily concerned with the design of learning experiences in K–12 computer science. My work is guided by two central commitments. First, I advocate for constructionist approaches to learning, where students build understanding through creating, directed by their own interests and supported by collaborative communities. Second, I deeply value the work of teachers in designing and supporting these learning experiences. My book with Sarah Blum-Smith, Start with Questions: The Classroom as Design Studio (MIT Press, March 2026), brings these commitments together — exploring how K–12 teachers create the conditions for students to pursue projects and ideas that matter to them.

I completed my Ph.D. at the MIT Media Lab in 2012, where I was a member of the Lifelong Kindergarten research group and the team that developed the Scratch programming environment.

You can learn more about my projects, publications, and current activities at the Creative Computing Lab website and in my CV. You can contact me via email at karen_brennan@gse.harvard.edu.