Week 1: January 19, 2022
Topics Introduction and overview. Setting our intentions for the class. What is constructionism?
Readings Due Mindstorms (foreword, introduction) (.bib)
Assignments Out: Your Personal “Gears” Essay (due Tue 1/25 7pm)
| Topics Introductions, lab journals, lab norms and safety, Our relationship with materials.
Assignments Out: Frankenthing
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Week 2: January 26, 2022
Topics Constructionism Discussion of the Gears essays
Readings Due A History of Educational Technologies (this is a draft chapter, feel free to comment and suggest improvements on the Google Doc itself!) Mindstorms Ch.1 (.bib) Mindstorms Ch. 5 (.bib)
Readings to support your Gears Essay: Evocative objects Introduction, 1-2 chapters of your choosing (.bib)
Assignments Due Tuesday 1/25 at 7pm: Your Personal “Gears” Essay (submit a .docx (Word) file to your Slack channel with the teaching team) Out: Topics of interest, Powerful Ideas and Microworlds
| Topics Processing / p5.js, drawing with code
Assignments Due Wed 1/26: Frankenthing Out: Code Remix (due Tue 2/1 by 11:59pm ET)
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Week 3: February 2, 2022
Topics Piagetian Constructivism, Vygotskyan Constructivism, Papert’s synthesis of Piaget and Vygotsky
Readings Due Papert on Piaget (.bib) Constructivism: A Psychological Theory of Learning (.bib) Beyond the individual-social antinomy in discussions of Piaget and Vygotsky (.bib) Piaget’s constructivism, Papert’s constructionism: What’s the difference? (.bib)
Assignments Due Tue 2/1: Topics of interest, Powerful Ideas and Microworlds Out: Praxis reflection
| Topics 2D Design, Laser cutter
Assignments Due Tue 2/1: Code Remix Out: Omni Animal
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Week 4: February 9, 2022
Topics Experience and equilibration. Working with praxis reflections.
Readings Due Problems of Equilibration (.bib)
Assignments Due Tue 2/8 at 11:59pm: Praxis reflection Out: 3C’s Out: Last Week Tonight
| Topics Computation and fabrication. GoGo Board, Woodshop
Assignments Due Tue 2/8: Omni Animal Out: Rube Goldberg
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Week 5: February 16, 2022
Topics Critical Pedagogy
Readings Due Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Preface (.bib) Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Ch. 2 (.bib)
Optional Critical Pedagogy and Social Theory (.bib)
Assignments Due Tue 2/15: 3C’s (Part 1) Out: 3C’s (Final)
| Topics Rube Goldberg trial. Digital 3d design, CNC mill
Assignments Due Wed 2/16: Rube Goldberg Out: Dream Toy (Part 1)
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Week 6: February 23, 2022
Topics Critical pedagogy, constructivism, and constructionism
Readings Due Travels in Troy with Freire (.bib) Emergent Design and learning environments: Building on indigenous knowledge (.bib)
Assignments Due Tue 2/22: 3C’s (Final) Out: Tech in the Wild (Related to the problem statement)
| Topics Debrief Dream Toy, part 1. User research, prototyping (slides) Silicone casting, Vacuum forming
Assignments Due: Dream Toy (Part 1) Out: Dream Toy (Part 2)
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Week 7: March 2, 2022
Topics Overview of Design Methodologies for Learning, Human-Centered Design and Design Thinking
Readings Due Some reflections on designing construction kits for kids (.bib) The Design of Everyday Things, Ch. 6 excerpt (.bib) Human-Centered Design Considered Harmful (.bib)
Optional The foundations and assumptions of technology-enhanced student-centered learning environments (.bib)
| Topics Learning analytics, MMLA, developing final project ideas. Processing / p5.js, drawing with code
Assignments Due: Dream Toy (Part 2) Out: Dream Toy (Part 3)
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Week 8: March 9, 2022
Topics Glassboxing and Blackboxing
Readings Due Of Black and Glass Boxes: Scaffolding for Doing and Learning (bib) Computationally enhanced toolkits for children: historical review and a framework for future design (bib)
Assignments Out: Tech critique (related to the problem statement) Out: Final
| Topics 5:00-5:30 Dream toy debrief. If families arrive, a tour of the lab is available. 5:30-6:30 Present dream toys. Families and children invited! Food will be provided.
Assignments Due: Dream Toy (Part 3) Out: Final Project sketches
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Week 9: March 23, 2022
Topics Discuss final project. Cultural forms, Epistemic Forms and Games.
Readings Due Epistemic Forms and Games (bib) The role of cultural forms in tangible interaction design (bib)
Optional Readings Affordance, conventions, and design (bib) The Design of Everyday Things, Ch. 1 excerpt (bib)
Due Due Tue 3/23: Tech in the Wild
| Topics Physical computing, final project Arduino, E-Textiles.
Assignments Due: Final Project Sketches Out: Tools Deep Dive
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Week 10: March 30, 2022
Topics Representation, restructuration, media, literacy.
Readings Due Restructurations (bib) Changing Minds, Ch. 1 (bib)
To use in class Frog Pond (bib)
Assignments Due Tue 3/29: Tech critique
| Topics Past projects demo, final project brainstorming
Assignments Due: Tools Deep Dive Out: Low-fidelity prototyping (Final Project)
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Week 11: April 6, 2022
Topics Constructionist design of AI for learning, games for learning
Readings Due Playing and Making Games for Learning: Instructionist and Constructionist Perspectives for Game Studies (bib) Youth Learning Machine Learning through Building Models of Athletic Moves
Assignments Out: Final (Theory & lit review for paper)
| Topics AI demo, guest speaker
Assignments Due: Low-fidelity prototype (Final Project) Out: Processing II
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Week 12: April 13, 2022
Topics Academic argumentation workshop; writing workshop.
Readings Due Read two of the following papers. Design of a Health Monitoring Toy for Children (bib) Designing ReduCat: Audio-Augmented Paper Drawings Tangible Interface in Educational Intervention for High- Functioning Autistic Children (bib) Of Elephants and Nested Loops: How to Introduce Computing to Youth in Rural India (bib) A conceptual framework to compare two paradigms of Augmented and Mixed Reality experiences. (bib) Audio journaling for self-reflection and assessment among teens in participatory media programs (bib) Co-designing Tablet Computer Applications with Sri Lankan Practitioners to Support Children with ASD (bib) Co-Designing Voice User Interfaces with Teenagers in the Context of Smart Homes (bib) How smart are the smart toys? Children and parents’ agent interaction and intelligence attribution (bib)
| Critiques Present project prototypes to invited panels of outside experts. (Details).
Assignments Due Wed 4/13: User testing report
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Week 13: April 20, 2022
Topics Design principles and maxims
Assignments Due Wed 4/20: Literature review – list of 5 papers
| Topics Prototyping feedback and demo. Discussions on technical milestones.
Assignments Due Wed 4/20: Project prototype
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Week 14: April 27, 2022
Topics The future of maker education
Readings Due Children are not Hackers Making Core Memory: Design Inquiry into Gendered Legacies of Engineering and Craftwork Cheesemaking Emancipation: A Critical Theory of Cultural Making
Assignments Due Wed 4/27: Literature review
| Topics Final project working session, technical milestones
Assignments Due Wed 4/27: Prototype iteration
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Week 15: May 4, 2022
Topics Final presentations
Assignments Due Wed 5/4: Final Paper
| Topics BBA Expo Public showcase of final projects.Assignments
Assignments Due Wed 5/4: Final (Project)
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