#612: "Wait! Why is everyone connected to mine?!”: Contextualizing Rule Breaking as a Design Affordance

This paper looks at a network visualization software and a middle school activity to explore how design affordances, and youth agency intersect in learning. Despite equitable design intentions through limiting students to three connections in the network, some students exceeded that rule, producing larger nodes that drew attention to rule-breaking. Findings show how technical affordances simultaneously intersect with rule breaking, and youth agency and expression, suggesting that even well-intentioned lesson designs can constrain youth agency and participation. By integrating literature on design justice and network visualization, these case studies reveal how data representations not only mediate participation, but also takes into consideration youth agency constraints. Youth agency emphasizes the importance of youth participation, and meaning making of the world around them. This study calls for justice-centered reflexive design that anticipates and honors student agency.