Deja Vu-It just keeps happening....

Yes, for some reason...don't know why...I didn't blog in week 11.  The articles are highlighted and marked up, but I never made it to the blog site.  And I had things to say too...I noted them in the margins : -)  But today I'd like to talk about Resnick's comment that really struck home with me since I just filmed my last class session observing the Fine Arts class engaging with CT and yesterday was their computational textile critique session.  Resnick was talking about Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in 1999 when he said: 

"Digital technologies need not be seen in opposition to the physical world. Rather, digital technologies can be integrated with physical objects to create new types of dynamic materials that react and respond to the world around them.  And these new materials, just like more traditional materials, can serve as the basis for new types of craft activities."

For me, his insight was quite profound, because this is how I view computational textiles. There are so many ways to use these sewable/washable microprocessors and some of these I saw at the critique.  The projects ranged from a tennis shoe w/an accelerometer that lights up more LEDs that faster you run, to a bobble head that lit when it bobbled, to a dance glove with a temperature sensor (the hotter you get the more lights come on), to an adorable stuffed fabric star that lit up a constellation pattern when in a dark room and plays Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, to hugging monkeys responding differently to the type of hug depending on where the hands are placed, a sweatshirt that lights when the arm is moved rapidly and a shirt (and soon pants) used in a performance piece with cloth switches. These projects all fit within Resnick's prediction 10 years ago.  It really makes one wonder what will be available and in use 10 years from now?

Deja Vu it's week 3 again

     Okay...I missed blogging the week I presented, so here we go for those that want to step back with me into the 650 time machine. I really want to talk about the Resnick piece, I'm finding he's one of my favorite authors.  I remember when Tony and I were planning for that week's presentation he asked me Resnick's question: Which of these things doesn't belong: Television. Computer. Paint Brush.  I immediately said television which he seemed surprised at since most people say the last.  I explained my background since I worked in television I know it's a very passive medium, while you can create with computers and paint brushes. (Although I do have a friend who would argue this since he yells at the tv during sporting events like his tv transmits to the athletes ears : )
     So what can we do so children can create and explore?  I went to the toy isles, as I often do, looking for craft ideas for my granddaughters.  My oldest Amelia, just turned four, and needs help with her numbers.  So I saw this peal and stick mosaid kit that would make a flower design if you put the little colored squares on the matching number (e.g. purple=2, red=3, etc.) like a paint by number but with mosaics.  When she picked it out of the bag to work on over Thanksgiving break, she immediately placed the gem like looking flowers on it, and the blue sparkles for the eyes, and one mosaic on the number and she was done.  This was too much like work for her...it had numbers on it and she didn't want to think about numbers. Which reminded me of something Mike told me about the kids at the B&G Club...if it smells anything like school (e.g. homework), they won't do it.  Well my granddaughter has only been to nursery school, so those concepts are unfamiliar to her, yet she knew she didn't like it.  So it could possibly link to Csikszentmihalyi's comment that maybe the activity was overwhelming to her or Papert's finding that if it was difficult, it just didn't connect deeply to her interest/passion.  So we tried the child painting by numbers...she LOVES to paint.  Turns out she only likes to paint when she can decide what color goes where...which I must say I'm a little happy about! So instead she decorated a christmas tree doorhanger placing the decorations anywhere she wanted without numbers ever being mentioned again.
    I'm wondering if these crafts, which weren't really about creating and exploring, were really about?  When I thought about it, they were both more like: do this here, then this there, then this here...the old instructional style disguised as craft materials!  Is this at the root of what even a 4 year old doesn't like?  Yet, instructional style is exactly what Amelia will have to endure for the next 14+ years! (I use the word endure because I don't forsee traditional school as being an option for productive learning experiences in this case) So what can be done?  Ahhhh...the words of Resnick are being channeled: playful learning = (designing + creating + inventing) x (personal interest + variation + familiarity).  None of these were even touched upon in Amelia's two number activities...back to the freestyle painting board, where they are all evident : -)