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| WHAT DID WE DO? WHAT'S NEW and CHANGED? (reflection and description of event / activity) |
EVIDENCE OF LEARNING (include artifacts, photos, videos, drawings, sketches) |
| Today Mikhail brought in Styrofoam and tooth picks for us to model the possible medium for the structure. While the rest of the group worked on the Styrofoam, Jacob and I took a trip to the Fab Lab and talked with Mr. D. I had made a quick sketch of a different model for the material and Mr. D told us that this model already exists. He referred us to Fab Academy, an online course made by MIT. This course gives demonstrations and lessons about using fab lab equipment. One of the projects was to design building structure blocks such as the ones our group is designing. There were example and descriptions of a bunch of different types. Along with Fab Academy, Mr. D had already made a bunch of building blocks. We took these back to our classroom and tested these out. The Styrofoam was easier to use but can easily break. The building blocks were harder to use but very dense and hard to break. After working on the medium for a two blocks, our group talked with Mr. Greenfield about our research. He encouraged us to use the Hawken database and research cognitive learning through play and puzzles. He taught us how to filter our searches and find more specific results. We returned back to our classroom and started doing research. Overall, getting back into the swing of things was not too difficult but the day went by really fast. I am looking forward to developing our project more and making it tangible. |  Type here... |
Nice, Michael. There was an idea I brought in that went unmentioned. If we spray painted the pieces (the styrofoam or the wood, depending on the medium we choose), we'd be able to incorporate another factor into the process of creating a sculpture. Perhaps we can take a curricula-connected route (wherein the colors correspond to classes and creators will add to the sculpture based on their various achievements in the respective classes, including athletics and art), or simply a route that will provide more aesthetic appeal.
ReplyDeleteI still think that the medium should allow for easier building of representational objects, i.e. not abstract. When we were building with the Styrofoam and the cardboard blocks, we did make some pretty cool structures. Yet we rarely talked about the plans for the structures that we were building and mostly added on pieces based on our individual intuition. With a medium that better supports representational building, students would be encouraged to talk with each other and plan out something to build, for example a national flag. I do strongly agree with Ashley in that color should play a role in our medium.
ReplyDeleteGood summary of the day, Michael. Personally, I continue to believe that we should not limit ourselves to one medium, but rather we should try out both of the different mediums with a small group such as the 22 students in our intensive, and get feedback from them and make our decision based on which medium they enjoy using more.
ReplyDeleteI like where we are headed. We have started to experiment develop our mediums and realizes in the process that there are pros and cons to all of them. I think a good place to start reconciling and combining the mediums would be to ask experts in the fab lab. In addition to our mediums we have also started to research and find hard proof that games can be conducive to learning and developing creativity. Overall all our group is headed in the right direction, but has a lot of work to do.
ReplyDeleteI thought that it was really useful for our team to finally be able to do something tangible like experiment with materials.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the way that your group is thinking on this collaborative blog. Keep up the good work!
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