Week 9 response

I am taking the “Beyond Bits and Atoms” course with Prof. Blikstein this semester so I was very familiar with the content in his article and that of Peppler and Bender. I think it’s important to share with the students in this class some of what we’ve discussed there, because there are critical tensions between… Read more Week 9 response

Week 9 Thu Ngo

The Margolis reading was an exciting read for me as it mentioned the flowering of computer science as a field of study. It reminded me of when CS was a very unpopular and even stigmatized field. It was also exciting to see that a program such as ECS was in place and that it was… Read more Week 9 Thu Ngo

Week 9 - On Maker Spaces

What I love most about this article is that it opened my eyes and introduced me to a whole new world that I hadn’t known existed! I had heard the term “Maker Space” before, but never really knew what it was until reading this article. So firstly, I am grateful for the opportunity to have… Read more Week 9 - On Maker Spaces

DQC Week 9

The Maker Movement has been growing in popularity in recent years. The wide ranging, nearly all encompassing nature of activities in the Maker Movement allow for a diverse group of participants. Makers are creators and builders, they use the materials around them to bring ideas to life. Activities in the Maker Movement might include building… Read more DQC Week 9

Week 8 discussion

As our group starts digging into the topic of parent engagement, one of our biggest question is about the awareness and knowledge that parents have about the impact that their actions have on their kids. The Crowley research paper highlights an action by parents that unintentionally contributes to a gender gap. I’m sure if you explained… Read more Week 8 discussion

Crowley- Girls and Science

I found this article to be incredibly interesting. Particularly because it brought me back to a video I viewed a couple of years ago: https://youtu.be/XP3cyRRAfX0. The lack of encouragement and development girls receive around STEM at a young age is incredibly disheartening. I think we are moving towards attempting to create tools to give girls access to… Read more Crowley- Girls and Science

Week 8

The Zimmerman piece was extremely interesting because it showed gave good guidelines for how ‘learning’ and ‘fun’ can be seamlessly integrated. It was interesting to note how science can informally be integrated in other activities a child engages in. I found the concept of place-based education to be very relevant. Something that I have heard… Read more Week 8

Week 8 Response

I love the idea of place-based mobile learning apps as presented by Zimmerman (2014) in theory. It’s a very natural use of new technologies, and a location-based approach is a logical but powerful way of helping users connect with learning in informal settings. Unfortunately, the actual images (particularly Figures 1 & 2) of the apps she describes are… Read more Week 8 Response

Week 8 Thu Ngo

As someone who loves video games and mmorpgs, the Steinkuehler reading was a very exciting and motivating read. The parallels it drew between players collaborating and contributing knowledge towards the scientific community contributing to “collective intelligence” is something that I never would have considered. This leads to me a few questions. The first is if this… Read more Week 8 Thu Ngo

Week 8: Constructivist Approach in Blikstein

In Blikstein’s study, the researcher discusses theoretical pillars for digital fabrication. One line in this section stood out to me in particular: “This chameleonesque adaptivity [of machines], which is embedded in technology, permits the acknowledgement and embracing of different learning styles and epistemologies, engendering aconvivial environment in which students can concretize their ideas and projects with… Read more Week 8: Constructivist Approach in Blikstein