Research Interests
Critical Making, Relational Aesthetics, and Participatory Culture.
Kathy H. Zhou’s research blends Research-Creation, arts-based inquiry, and Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) to explore themes of dystopia/utopia, freedom, equity, and the politics of imagination. Rooted in new media art, critical pedagogy, and game-based learning, her work engages youth and communities in creative investigations of systemic inequities and cultural transformation.
Zhou’s research is informed by autobiographical, social-political, and contemporary contexts—juxtaposing personal experience with broader social dynamics. Through collaborative games, interactive storytelling, and visual media, she builds spaces for participatory knowledge-making and collective meaning. Her ongoing project Fall of Artica functions as an open-ended research framework that invites students, artists, and educators to imagine speculative futures, investigate social conditions, and prototype change.
Her work highlights the transformative power of art and media to create inclusive environments for dialogue, reflection, and action.
Zhou actively contributes to cross-disciplinary research networks at the intersection of art, education, and technology. She engages in dialogue connecting art, science, and emerging technologies as member of interdisciplinary Art, Research and Education communities:
Publications
Zhou, K. H., Pullen, C., & Slotta, J. D. (2025) Public Sphere in Dystopia: a Game-based Youth Participatory Action Research, College of Art Association, 113th Annual Conference, New York City
Zhou, K. H., Pullen, C., Holmes, J., & Slotta, J. D. (2023). FoA Game for Change: A Role for Open AI Conversational Agents. Presentation at 19th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning, EC-TEL 2024, Krems, Austria, September 16–20.
Zhou, K. H., Fong, C., Pullen, C., & Slotta, J. D. (2024) From Youth Participatory Art to Vision and Action: A Framework for Game-based Research-Creation, short paper at the 18th International Conference of the Learning Sciences-ICLS 2024, International Society of the Learning Sciences.
Zhou, K. H., Pullen, C., & Slotta, J. D. (2024) Digging the Abandoned Feelings Out of the Wasteland: Raising Trouble Makers through A Dystopian Critical Action Game, a poster at the 18th International Conference of the Learning Sciences-ISLS 2024, International Society of the Learning Sciences.
Zhou, K. H., Pullen, C., & Slotta, J. D. (2024) A Critical Action Game: Fall of Artica Investigating new forms of collective inquiry for critical action, Roundtable Session titled “Engaging Our Students & Ourselves: Teaching in New Dimensions and Contexts”, Division C - Learning and Instruction/Division C - Section 1b: Humanities, Social Sciences, Fine Arts at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA).
Zhou, K. H., Pullen, C., Holmes, J., & Slotta, J. D. (2023). Supporting Collective Inquiry in a Critical Action Game: A Role for Open AI Conversational Agents. In Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning-CSCL 2023, pp. 428-431. International Society of the Learning Sciences.
Zhou, K. H., & Slotta, J. D. (2023). A Dystopian Game for Change: Building Asynchronous Learning Network Through Co-Design Partnerships Across Disciplines. In Proceedings of the 17th International Conference of the Learning Sciences-ICLS 2023, pp. 2169-2170. International Society of the Learning Sciences.
Zhou, K.H. (2022). FALL OF ARTICA: A DYSTOPIAN GAME FOR CHANGE(Master Thesis, University of Toronto).
Raman, P., Carvalho, R., Ghasempour, E., Zhou, K.H, Slotta, J. (2021). Supporting Students’ Critical Action within a Cultural Context: A Role for Arts-based Pedagogy in a Community of Learners. Proceedings of the 16th International Conference of the Learning Sciences-ICLS 2022. International Society of the Learning Sciences.