Write a "Gears" essay – a short essay on “evocative” objects from your childhood/youth which have had an important impact on your intellectual life, in the same spirit of Papert’s foreword to his book Mindstorms. This is a typical assignment in constructionist course and many collections of such essays …
read moreOther articles
Omni Animal
Design and build an Omni-Animal. In this assignment, you will get comfortable with working in the TLTL, and with using the laser cutter to prototype two- and three-dimensional objects. Alternative: Propose creating another object, useful or beautiful, of similar complexity as an Omni-Animal. Your project should still meet the same …
read moreUpcycling
Modify something you own using some digital fabrication technology in the TLTL. The idea is to explore how digital fabrication might allow us to approach the materiality of the world around us differently, to discover affordances in what we thought was immutable. One important requirement is to use some sort …
read moreNeedfinding and problem statement
Generate a 1-2 page document on a problem or need in an educational setting. The goal is to get you to start thinking about potential final project ideas.
- Consider an environment: formal, informal, museum, etc.
- Think of of one or more activities or “sub” environments within this environment:
- How are …
Praxis reflection essay
Write a close analysis of an experience you have had in the lab so far in this class, using constructivism, sociocultural learning theory, and/or constructionism as lenses for interpreting the experience. Positioning yourself as a learner, describe the context of the experience, potentially including the space, tools, people, and …
read moreRube Goldberg
As a class, you will build a single Rube Goldberg Machine, using the GoGo boards with various sensors and actuators, the laser cutter, and the lab's woodshop tools. The Rube Goldberg Machine you build will consist of 7 stations, each of which takes a particular sensor input and has to …
read moreThree C's
By the time this assignment is due, we will have read about and discussed the core learning and educational theories that this class is based on: Constructionism, Constructivism and Critical Pedagogy. These theories are broad and contain many ideas and concepts. The goal of this writing assignment is for you …
read moreDream Toy
Co-design a tangible learning artifact with a child, develop it through iterative prototypes, and then build a final version you will give to the child as a gift. (It could also be a gift for another child.) The artifact might be:
- A toy or game: board game, interactive game, puzzle …
Tech critique
Critique an educational technology through the theoretical and design lenses we have examined so far. The critique involves an analysis of the design decisions of a learning technology -- both the explicit and implicit intentions of the designer. The critique might directly inform your final project, and it might be used …
read moreInterface design
Working alone or with your Tech in the Wild partner, propose a redesigned interface for some technology you observed during Tech in the Wild. The first step is to identify the technology whose interface you plan to redesign The focus here is on the interface--don't fundamentally redesign the technology, but …
read moreTech in the Wild
So far in the course, we have considered theoretical approaches to the learner, learning, and knowing, and explored theories that help us understand the ways that technology can be used for learning. In this assignment, we ask you to observe a learning technology in practice, and to attend to the …
read moreFinal project
The joint project for the two courses is a working prototype of a constructionist educational technology, to be displayed at the BB&A Expo, and an accompanying paper suitable for submission to an academic conference related to education and technology. You will select a conference appropriate for your project and …
read moreCode Remix
FrankenThing
(Pseudo) Omni-Animal