Observer's
Notes
Exploration Activities
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The first day's "warm up" ("This is a what?") went very well. Students
were skeptical at first, as usual, but quickly saw that the game is fun
and not as easy as it first seems. A good ice-breaker, and one worth using
again.
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Two Nametags
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The first activity--making name tags in mirror writing--was also a
big hit: not too difficult, but a task that feels like a "problem" for
students, and one with some interesting solutions. Several of the students
(the boys) solved the problem very quickly and disseminated their solutions,
which was not a source of difficulties, but certainly was a sign that they
would provide many of the "answers" to questions during the workshop--sometimes
to the detriment, I think, of other students' ability to think things through
for themselves (later that morning I actually asked them to give other
students a chance to talk sometimes).
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The transition to the computer was smooth. Students seemed to master the
basics of using the new program (sketchpad) quickly, and I think it is
noteworthy that their first products almost uniformly imitated my own demonstration
with my "name tag." It took a while to produce these first pictures, and
this time is included in the "group exploration" above--a nice reminder
that even the quality of the "instruction" parts of the workshop were fairly
different than a normal school class.
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We looked over the individual name tags in a kind of mini-gallery, and
students were quite reluctant to talk about the works--either their own
or someone elses. I felt that this problem continued throughout the workshop,
and I think it is one that needs to be addressed. At the same time, I did
not find this at all surprising. Students are not used to talking about
their own or their peers' work publicly, and I think this is a real weakness
in the culture of school, and one of the obvious lessons of re-thinking
education in terms of a studio model.
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We took a quick look at the AMBULENCE puzzle, and then students wrote in
their journals--another rough spot in the workshop, I felt, and another
shortcoming of our current system of education.
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We then went on to the exploration of visual palindrome words and the symmetries
of letters, which went smoothly, with the same issue of the two boys rushing
ahead somewhat. The demonstration of mirrors on the computer went quickly,
and students seemed to have no problem understanding the relationship between
the "mirror" image on the screen and the function of real mirrors on objects.
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