EDET 678 Emerge Tech Week 10 Blog (and Reflection)

EDET 678 Emerging Technologies

Week 10 Blog

Essential question: How are electronics viable additions to “crafting” for today’s young person?

            When I walk into work, high school students are always expressing themselves through clothing, hair, makeup, art, music, and technology. Students like to apply what they have learned in a way that they can express their individuality to other students. Electronics can give students the opportunity to do just that. The ability to create a new trend, a new style, or improve upon an old trend or style is one reason why students will and do embrace using electronics to craft.

            There are many ways for students to use electronics in crafting. Buechly shares how the MIT lab has created ways to make pop-up books more interesting. The books have pictures that light up when the various tabs are pulled or when parts are pushed. Students can take a piece of literature they have learned and change it into a children’s book with a similar moral and plot line. These electronic books are a great way for students to learn in an interdisciplinary way. The pop-up books have the disciplines of technology, science, mathematics, literacy, and health/social academics. (2012)

            Einarson gives many examples where electronics of an Arduino has improved upon clothes, styles, etc. (2013) Students can be in a Makerspace and use the tools provided to improve upon a piece of clothing, accessory, item, or product that they have. Given the option, students will come up with fabulous ideas that are practical and artistic. Students are working on the skill of identifying a problem or an area of need and creating or making a solution.

Resources:

Buechly, L. (2012). How to “sketch” with electronics. TED Talks. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTBp0Z5GPeI

Einarson, E. (2013). Go bionic with these wearable Arduino projects. Wired. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/2013/01/wearable-arduinos/

Peppler, Kylie A., et al. Short Circuits : Crafting E-Puppets with DIY Electronics. The MIT Press, 2014. Interconnections: Understanding Systems Through Digital Design. EBSCOhost, egandb.uas.alaska.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=871113&site=ehost-live. 



REFLECTION: Added on July 23.

This week was interesting to learn about how AR and how to incoporate it into our classrooms. I have used the App we talked about with my French students who had to tell a story about a picture I provided them. It was a great way for students to listen to each other without having to repeat themselves over and over. It was also a great way for me to assess my students in what they are learning.

I commented on three of my classmates' blogs and they brought some great ideas to the floor on how to use electronics in the class. I found that crafting with electronics is an interdisciplinary activity. This is a positive way to show students that the subjects they are learning are connected.