MoMA's Art Lab Shines

MOMA's Art Lab is tucked away in their education building. I had not been aware of it on previous visits. I was particularly interested in seeing the facility before I meet Cari Frisch in April at the Sandbox Summit. My efforts were well rewarded. Cari was kind enough to put me on the staff guest list and I spent a wonderful afternoon with Queena, Bek and numerous families at the Art Lab.

 
The education facility at MoMA is extensive. The Art Lab is on the ground level and designed for young children. Downstairs are multiple classroom studios for older students. There is also exhibit space so I was able to see examples of the kinds of projects they do with the older visitors.

Create Ability is a seven year old arts program for children and adults with learning or developmental disabilities and their families. This is only one of the numerous programs offered.

The ArtLab is a bright space that is very inviting with one long wall of windows. On an annual basis, the space is configured for a specific theme. This year the theme is people. At the entrance an animated segment with letters projected on the wall and configured into various faces entices little visitors. Actually, the space is designed for families. I was visiting in the early afternoon so, it was not too surprising that the children I saw we're all very young, some as young as a year old. The space is well designed to accommodate visitors of all ages.

Still from the animation that greets visitors to the Art Lab.

The first project on the wall as you enter the room is a large set of magnetized letters that can be arranged into faces. This kind of activity is replicated with many different materials at other locations in the room. There are blocks, laminated cards and drawing stations.

I could not resist playing with the letters myself. It was fun, the magnetized letters were large enough for small hands to manipulate and "sticky" enough to move around without undo effort but also securely stay in place.

One of my favorite games is exquisite corpse (wish it had another name). Their version was very clever. Three small doors are affixed to the wall, stacked on top of each other. This allows the player to make a head drawing and conceal it while a fellow player would draw the body, etc. Most of the little visitors when I was there were still into scribbling, but that didn't stop them from wanting to participate.

 
I am always on the look out for good ideas for the children's workshops I conduct at The Daura Gallery at Lynchburg College. The Art Lab provided inspiration on many levels but of special interest was a unique activity I would like to replicate. They constructed a shadow puppet theater and a workstation for making shadow puppets out of chop sticks and black construction paper. I am a huge fan of Indonesian shadow puppets. This activity would be a great opportunity to introduce children to that tradition. It was very helpful to see how they had constructed the theater. They may not have used plexiglas, but it could be made with plexiglas, tracing paper and a few reflectors and bright bulbs. I am envisioning asking the kids to come up with a story idea, probably for efficiency sake, a fairy or folk tale known to all, and then have them go to work making the puppets. I can also envision having the effort video tapped, why not...if it works.

Shadow puppets waiting to be called to action.  They are hanging on the window that faces the Sculpture Garden I walked through to get to the Art Lab.

Queena Ko was the arts educator/facilitator I spoke with when I first arrived. It was fun to realize we are both UCLA art school grads, she much more recently than I. Her co-worker Bek is from Australia working at the MoMA for 6 months. She is an arts educator in Sydney. Both young women were very friendly and helpful. Another pleasant conversation was with Sori and her mother. Sori is 20 months old and this is her second visit to the Art Lab. She was having a grand time putting together card faces and seemed to enjoy handing me cards!

I enjoyed talking to Sori and her mother while they made faces with smartly laminated cards
with photos of a large variety of objects.

Lucky toddlers and up who live close enough to the museum to make this a regular playground.

Multicultural Stories: 1001 Inventions at Nat Geo

An important job we have as educators/parents is to help children get as wide a view of the world as possible to balance our natural ethnocentrism. Here in Lynchburg, VA I have been very impressed with Randolph College's commitment to "cultivating a global perspective in a liberal arts setting".  Randolph currently has an initiative to move from tolerance for diversity to "intercultural competence". These are exciting and worthy goals for any institution. Museums can and do play a major role in introducing cultural assets and explaining their significance.
   
Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation (FSTC), a British non-profit educational organization has created the exhibition 1001 Inventions to this end. The exhibit introduces the Golden Age of Muslim Civilization, highlighting the groundbreaking scientific and cultural achievements of the the 7th to 17th century in the Muslim world.  1001 Inventions is currently (until February 3, 2013) on view at the Washington, DC headquarters of the National Geographic.   The exhibit is geared toward children but engages all ages.


One of the most interesting objects in the exhibit is a large reproduction of the automatic clock designed by Al-Jazari 800 years ago.  Al-Jazari was an inventor, engineer, mathematician, artist and scholar. His work, including this clock were instrumental is setting the stage for both modern automation and robotics.   He is best know for The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices published in 1206.  In it he describes 100 mechanical devices and provides blue prints for their construction.

Al-Jazari's clock is run by water in an elaborate series of mechanisms that function inside and outside of the elephant. This video animates the workings of the clock.  This monumental clock is 20 feet tall. 

One of the most interactive components and one kids particularly enjoyed was a projection on a large wall. The projected image featured Abbas Ibn Firnas. Firnas is attributed to be the first man to make a scientific attempt at flying. Firnas is shown with his winged invention jumping from a tower and in "flight".  The viewer standing in front of the wall powers Firnas's flight by flapping their arms. An animated replica of the viewers motion is also projected on the wall. The longer and stronger the flapping, the more yards Firnas flies. 

I learned lots of interesting factoids.  Cat gut was first used in surgery during this time and it is still used today.  Fatima Al-Fihri founded the world’s first modern university in 859 CE.  It is still in operation today. A Muslim scientist Alhazen is considered the first to come up with a scientific description of a camera obscura or room sized pin hole camera. Knowledge of various architectural features such as arches were brought back to Europe from the Crusades. One display suggested that the shape of the Arabic numerals were devised to correspond to the appropriate number of angles, ie one had one angle in the symbol that represents one, two had two angles etc.

This pdf for middle school students is a worksheet for students to fill out at the exhibit. It provides an overview of the range of topics addressed in this stimulating, informative experience. 1001 Inventions has traveled to numerous locations around the world including the California Science Center in Los Angeles, the New York Hall of Science, the London Science Museum and the Sultanahmet Square in Istanbul.

Optimistic about the Future of Education

"This is the first generation of people that work, play, think and learn differently than their parents,... They are the first generation to not be afraid of technology.  It's like the air to them."

Don Tapscott

Have you seen the documentary The Future of Learning? I just can't shut up about this film.  It inspired me with a renewed optimism about the future of education. It is easy to see around us powerful systems that fundamentally want to perpetuate themselves. I see the inertia to maintain the status quo in education on all levels.  However many brilliant minds are working to create access to educational technology that has the potential to leap frog over resistent institutions.

My thoughts about the educational system are anecdotal as both an educator/artist and a parent.  I just read a review on the Huffington Post that was critical of the film for selling a product (that's a stretch) and just regurgitating old ideas. I am quite sure there were no "new" ideas in this film.  However, what I did find is a flow of information that was succinct and persuasive.   Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson has produced this 20 minute documentary as is part of their Networked Society initiative.

The second time I watched the film I wrote down those ideas (not direct quotes) that seemed to be the most meaningful. It is this thread of ideas that I found so compelling. 


The current educational system was built to create identical people.  The system needed to produce soldiers and later factory workers.  That concept is no longer relevent.   Seth Godin

Knowing is an obsolete idea.  Answers are everywhere.  One can find an answer when it is needed.  Students finding their own answers leads to better understanding.  Sugata Mitra  TED talk

http://www.fastcoexist.com/1680776/watch-a-great-short-film-on-the-future-of-technology-and-education

Those who are successful are successful because they have failed more often.
Seth Godin 

No one takes a standardized test for a living.  So why is our educational system based on taking standardized tests?  Seth Godin

Our idea is to provide courses from the best universities for free to anyone who wants to take them.  We have 1.5 millions students in 196 countries taking 195 courses from 33 universities. Daphne Koller, Coursera  TED talk

Coursera's stats

Knewton is a website/software set up to create personalized courses.  Courses that respond to the individuals learning styles and pacing. Jose Ferreira

Knewton Founder and Ceo

 Revolution destroys the perfect to enable the impossible. It is never a clean, easy process.  Seth Godin

Change children's educational opportunities, even just a little bit and you change the history of the world. Stephen Heppell  Learning without Frontiers talk

Everytime I ask the right question, I get immediate engagement. 
Sugata Mitra 

Am I being naive?  Are we approaching a time when access to digital tools will leave the nay sayers behind? 

What did you think of this film?   
  

Introduce a Kid to Coding Today

Learning to Code

What have you found to be a useful tool for kids to learn coding?

I am learning computer programming. In the process of developing ideas for apps for young children and working with animator and programmer, Heather Larkin, I realize that I can't really develop the best products if I don't understand how the interactive media is built under the hood.  I have worked with Flash for many years, but never on the coding side.   As I jump into this process, I really wish I had done this years ago.  Here are some of the best tools for teaching kids programming I have found.

Black board in my office

Get A Kid Into Programming Today

I feel like pleading every 10 year old I meet to learn how to code NOW, while it's relatively easy...compared to an older brain like mine.  Fortunately for kids today, there are some a number of ways to do just that.

My coding education is self-directed.  This is not necessarily the ideal way to do it, but this is a procedure that has worked for me in the past.  Self-directed with lots of help.  In my current situation the help comes from online resources and associates.  This blog is primarily about kids and technology...so how would I go about learning coding if I were a kid or I had a kid who wanted to learn programming?

Khan Academy 

I have found Khan Academy the most accessible approach to introducing young children to programming. The site is well designed and easy to navigate.  The audio instructions enhance the process and the ability to test what you have just learned in a new program reinforces the lessons. 

Khan Academy home page

I took some of the coding lessons on the Khan Academy site and they were definitely kid-friendly for lower(perhaps with assistance) and upper elementary school kids.  The very pleasant voice of a young woman guides you through the lessons. She is funny and engaging.

As you practice the code you get instant gratification as the results are seen simultaneously in a panel beside the code.  I learned how to draw a duck and change the features and move them around. Then I had the opportunity to go to a new program and create my own wonderful Green Head.  In the online tutorials I have followed in my adult course of study, many of which have been really excellent and extremely helpful, I am reading not being read to, no surprise here.  For kids an audio track is a big plus because it is easier to follow. Also the nuggets of information are much smaller. 

Khan Academy has been getting lots of publicity recently. Founder Salman Khan has recently written "The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined".  I heard him interviewed on NPR. It is hard not to be impressed by an articulate impassioned educator with three degrees from MIT and an MBA from Harvard.The tagline on the website is "Learn almost anything for free." A bit of a stretch when you look at their course offerings, but what's not to love about the concept.

Scratch

Scratch is another application to help kids learn programming.  Modules of instructions are made available in categories (motion, sound, control, etc) and these blocks of instructions are dragged onto the coding area and collected to provide direction for the sprites (images) on the "stage".  These modules allow input to implement changes within the instructions, ie you can move 25 steps, or -27 steps, etc.
Scratch is a project of the MIT Media Lab.  This video presents an overview of their vision for the project. The student projects can be shared and downloaded so that the code is also available to review. Ideas can be shared and modified.

CargoBot

CargoBot is an iPad app also designed to familiarize the player with the concept of developing reusable blocks of information that perform tasks. It's fun and get challenging quickly. 

As previously stated, the Khan Academy would be my first recommendation for young kids looking for a cool way to learn to make computers do what they want them to do. 

Please share the coding tools you have found effective.

Telling a Story with Picle

I spent a lot of time today playing with Picle from Made by Many.  I was instantly captivated when I read the first review a few weeks ago on Zite my favorite magazine app. What's not to love about an app that lets you take a photo and then record an audio track to sync with that image.  Not obvious to me immediately although it should have been, instead of ambient audio I can add my own voice over track. That's not all.  These photos can be threaded together to create a narrative.

Link

I love sharing information about apps, websites and activities that amaze and delight me.  Picle kept me frustrated most of the day, but it really didn't have all that much to do with the app itself. It is designed for iPhones and I am using it on an iPad.

iPhone app interface

Sitting in my home office in Central Virginia listening to my resident bird population I decided to go outside and create a little Picle narrative about what makes my work environment so special to me. I had forgotten that iPads, and I can only speak for iPad2's, are not really designed to be used outside.  Bright sunlight renders the screen almost useless.  I persevered.  The image quality wasn't the greatest, which I blamed on the iPad. (Based on the reviews it may be more complicated than that...) I wasn't so lucky when it came to capturing the birds songs either.  Nothing earth shattering here but at least worth the effort for me to see how Picle works.

I came back inside and then it hit me.  Across from my desk and computer is a wall I have turned into a chalk board.  The images on this board since early August when Simone was here have kept me smiling.  My iPad works much better inside, so my Picle Tale #2 was about to take shape. 

 

Now we're getting somewhere.  This is a story worth telling.  I wish I had an iPhone because I can really see how this app could be used on a regular basis with much more ease than schlepping out the iPad and nonchalantly shooting away constantly fearing it will be dropped or some other disaster.

How did it actually work?  When taking a photo a red bar appears above the image that indicates it is recording sound. The settings allow the user to record audio simultaneously with shooting or after the photo is taken.  It is also possible to set the recording time from 2 to 10 seconds. The clip is then reviewed and approved or trashed. If approved it goes into the Picle library where it can be combined with other images in a New Story or an Existing Story. The user decides which images in the library are to be included and in what order. When the story is complete, it can be shared by posting to picleapp.com, Twitter, emailed or shared as a video on YouTube, Facebook or tumblr.

Part of the beauty of this app is the attitude of the makers as expressed in March 2012 right after it was released.
We've been careful not to over-design Picle at this stage, because we want it to be a living example of the Lean product innovation approach we've been developing here at Made by Many. What we're launching is very much a Minimal Viable Product (or perhaps more correctly, a Minimum Desirable Product). We're approaching SXSW (as ever) as a giant customer development opportunity. All our hypotheses about the app may be wildly misconceived - but we really want to learn and we can't think of a better opportunity.  

 

We're asking for your help - not just in downloading, using it, and uploading your Picles, but also giving us feedback. We're planning to interview people using the app at SXSW, and we'll be organising a couple of Picle meet-ups: we *think* Picle will work well at events and when we're swarming. And we're planning to update people through this blog about what we're learning. We really want it to be an open conversation - and as such, we have set up a Picle Twitter account (@PicleApp).

Perhaps their name says it all, Made by Many. As I see it, this can only get better.  Please put out an iPad version or I'll have to get an iPhone!

Rocketship Discovery Prep and Grassroots Innovation

It isn't every morning that reading the newspaper provides inspiration and hope for a better future for our children.  I read the story about Professor Gupta's work in India first and then the article about Danner's educational model and the charter schools his company has developed. I realized that common treads run though both stories. Their overlapping focus is grass roots innovation. Neither is waiting for government or corporate solutions. They are forging head of their own initiative.

Rocketship Discovery Prep; short documentary about the school

The Washington Post's Rocketship prepares for its big launch is an in depth article about entrepreneur and educator John Danner's Rocketship Discovery Prep charter schools.  Danner is a technology multimillionaire who set out to resolve the achievement gap between poor and privileged students that dooms many students to starting out behind, never catching up and dropping out of school to the peril of our national economy.  To say nothing of the peril of our moral imperative as a civilization to educate our children!

Five years ago Danner founded charter elementary schools in San Jose confident that he had found a solution to the achievement gap. Approximately 90% of Rocketship Discovery students are eligible for free or reduced lunch (indicator of economic status) and 80% are not native English speakers. Recent test scores are indicating his students are out scoring county and state averages in California. The success of these five schools has made them the darlings of the school reform movement. He now has grand dreams of expanding his existing 5 schools to locations around the country. The big question is whether this model that is successful in a small handful of communities can go nationwide and continue that success.


Technology plays a major role in Danner's approach.  Computers address the issue of individualized programs for each student and the costs of that education.  Coming from the technology sector, Danner understands utilizing computers for tasks that require tracking individual needs and assessment.  He also has experience in the trenches as a second grade teacher. Educational technicians and computers play a major role in drilling students in an environment that can cater to their individual needs. At other times during the school day the students interact with the teachers to develop critical thinking skills. The teachers time is not used for rote skill building exercises.  This impacts on the bottom line and has proven successful based on test scores.  The model is relatively new, but it is inspiring to see wealthy individuals taking the initiative to make things better for all of us.

Rural India as I saw it years ago.

This concept of grassroots innovation was echoed by an Associated Press article Indian professor uncovers inventions in the Lynchburg News and Advance.  Professor Anil Gupta has spent over twenty years in the small villages of India looking for the inventions of the unsung geniuses among the local populations. Gupta's premise is that the most exciting and powerful ideas for fighting poverty don't come from research by large corporations but come from ordinary people doing what they need to do to survive. 


Most of his discoveries relate to agriculture, such as a more productive strain of peppers or a hollow spear that pokes a hole in the ground as it drops a seed.  However not all. Professor Gupta has documented over 25,000 inventions.  At the very least the ideas are shared with other villagers. Other inventions are capitalized for further development and the potential of making it to the marketplace.


These are exceptional stories and I love starting my day inspired and thankful that men and women "out there" are not sitting around waiting for answers.