Very brief summary of class on 4/09/14

Yesterday, we.....

1) Tinkered with Scratch and MakeyMakey. We developed Scratch programs that introduced ourselves and tried out controlling them with the Makey Makey interface.

2) Discussed briefly the readings. Some points that were brought up -

• On page 66, Petrich, Wilkenson, & Bevan (2013) describe the things they were looking for when they were trying to identify whether students were learning in the Tinkering Lab at the Exploratorium. This is one way to operationalize learning that can be detected through video analysis. We were not sure if this was scaleable. 
• Formal learning environments (schools) have some added constraints (e.g., accountability to state standards) but they also allow for different types of testing. Perhaps there is some way to assess learning on a greater scale. We also struggled with how to decide "what" was learned rather than just if students had participated in any learning. 
• Some models for more flexible assessment include badges (e.g., DIY.org) and  Standards-based grading where students are provided with standards and turn in evidence of mastery. 
• We discussed the lack of tinkering opportunities in current elementary schools.

3) Discussed outreach and the perspective of schools and outreach providers.

Resources we discussed
DIY.org
MakeyMakey
Scratch.mit.edu
Design Squad Nation

If you have any additions, please feel free to contribute notes so we have a record of things we talked about.