Repenning is the creator of the AgentSheets and AgentCubes Cyberlearning tools used for game design and computational science applications. As the Director of the Scalable Game Design project, using AgentSheets, he leads an effort to reinvent computer science education in public schools through game design starting at the middle school level. With over 10,000 students, and with funding from the National Science Foundation and Google, the Scalable Game Design project is conducting the largest US study of computer science education at the middle school level including inner city schools, remote rural areas, and Native American communities. Results indicate that students, across genders and ethnicities, are not only highly motivated to learn computer science through game design but they also learn essential computational thinking skills. They acquire skills through game design, which later they can leverage in STEM simulation creation. Repenning's theoretical contributions include a pedagogical framework called the Zones of Proximal Flow combining Vygotsky’sZone of Proximal Development with Csikszentmihalyi’s state of Flow.
Recognition
The AgentSheets work has received numerous awards including the Gold Medal from the mayor of Paris for “most innovative application in education of the World Wide Web” at WWW5, and an invitation by the Association for Computing Machinery to showcase AgentSheets as one of the “best of the best innovators” at the ACM1 Conference. Repenning has been a Telluride Tech Festival honoree for contributions to computer science education. Previous honorees include Vint Cerf, recognized as one of the fathers of the Internet, and Alan Kay, recognized as one of the pioneers of object-oriented programming. Repenning has served as advisor to the National Academy of Sciences, the European Commission, The Japanese Ministry of Education, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Science Foundation. He is a reviewer for research funding organizations in the USA, Canada, Europe and Asia. He has chaired conferences on end-user programming for kids and has been invited to give talks, guest lectures, workshops, and keynote addresses nationally including at Stanford, the MIT Media Lab, and University of Colorado and at numerous international conferences. Beyond academic recognition, Repenning's work has also been featured in TV News, radio, newspapers and in popular press including WIRED Magazine. In Switzerland, Repenning was selected to be one of the 100 Digital Shapers.
