EDU236X Beyond Bits and Atoms

EDU236X is a class I took in Spring Quarter. I had a special love-hate relationship with this class. The lesson topics and materials were all so interesting, cool and fascinating. Yet there was so much work and output expected from this class. Especially for one who has not done programming at all, some of the assignments for this class seemed way beyond the reach of my Zone of Proximal Development. But this was a class in which I experienced what it is like to be put in constant cognitive dissonance, to learn so much from seeking to resolve that dissonance, and learning from my classmates as part of a social context. A truly enjoyable experience (on hindsight!), and true to what the course teaches ... constructionist!
Anyway, I did so much work for this class that it deserves a tab in my portfolio by itself. Here's all the work I did for this class. With a special feature on my final project.

Assignment 01 : The Gears of my Childhood
Assignment 02 : Fun with Microworlds Logo
Assignment 04 : Fun with Netlogo
Assignment 05 : Cut to the chase with the LaserCutter
Reflection Paper 01 : What's The Big Idea?
Reflection Paper 02 : Edwards & Eisenberg
Reflection Paper 03 : Wilensky & Martin
Reflection Paper 04 : Blikstein & Abrahamson
Reflection Paper 05 : Blikstein & Cavallo
Reflection Paper 06 : “Piaget is dead … no, that was just Stage Three : DEATH”
Reflection Paper 07 : "On the shoulders of giants" (**my personal favorite)

CSSI : Constructing Science for Social Impact
my final project

My love-hate relationship with this class culminated in this final project. The task was to to design and implement a constructionist learning environment. Presenting ... CSSI : a constructionist-social-constructivist curriculum for the teaching of science. In this curriculum, students are challenged with real-world problems, and design solutions and models with which to understand the impact and role of science and technology. The curriculum are also aligned with some of the Californian Science Standards.

Armed with what I learned from my Curriculum Construction class in the Winter Quarter, I used Wiggins and McTighe’s “Backwards Design” model (1998) to design this curriculum, aimed at engaging students in the design and construction of solutions to real-world problems, in the process appreciating the complexities involved, and understanding the potential social impact and applications of scientific concepts and principles.

An overview of the curriculum framework is as follows :
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The real-world problem in the sample curriculum I developed is that of energy availability in developing countries. A non-profit organization, The Portable Light Project, created a way to attach solar cells to textiles. This enables the world’s poorest people to create and own energy harvesting bags, blankets, and clothing using local materials and traditional weaving and sewing techniques in an open source model. The challenge posed to students was three-fold :
(1) Using the Gogoboard & any sensors, design an experiment to detect how much solar power can be harvested from such garments
(2) Design your own Portable Light Project prototype
(3) Using Netlogo, create a model to show the social impact of the Portable Light Project

Although I was tempted to take the easy way out, and present a purely theoretical curriculum, I was challenged to actually experience the curriculum myself, present myself with the real-world issue, and design a couple of prototypes that students may develop. The journey towards the final curriculum products eventually turned out to be most educational, exhilarating and extremely rewarding. Here are some prototypes I developed :
(1) A t-shirt with light sensors embedded in it, connected to the Gogoboard. Students can wear the t-shirt throughout a day, record the amount of light reaching each sensor via the Gogoboard, and determine the ideal position to put solar panels on shirts to harvest light.
(2) A t-shirt with a solar panel attached to it
(3) A model of a house, with a solar cell, and a light sensor attached to one surface of the roof. The angle of inclination of the roof is adjustable, for students to experiment with the ideal roof angle for harvesting solar energy.
Here's a video that introduces the CSSI curriculum and traces a student's experience.
And the CSSI Curriculum Package I finally submitted consisted of :
(1) A collaboration portal (The CSSI Website)
(2) The curriculum resource document (download here)
(3) Powerpoint slides for teachers