http://educationarcade.mit.edu/modules
Mitch Resnick and the Lifelong Kindergarten Groupwork work
at MIT Media Lab
Introduction - Mich Resnick
Mitch Resnick directs the Lifelong Kindergarten research
group at the Media Laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. In his research, he develops new technologies
to help people (particularly children) learn new things in
new ways. His research interests include:
Learning through Designing
This includes the development of Programmable Bricks, now
commercialized as LEGO MindStorms, which engage children in
new types of design activities and new types of learning
experiences.
Bridging the Digital Divide
The Computer Clubhouse project is a network of after-school
learning centers where youth from under-served communities
work together on projects based on their own interests,
learning to express themselves with new technologies. The
Media Lab's Digital Nations consortium aims to help people
around the world address major social challenges (such as
education, health care, and community development) through
innovative design and use of new technologies.
Decentralized Thinking
The StarLogo modeling environment was created by Resnick to
help people explore and learn about decentralized systems
and emergent phenomena.
Active Essays
This includes the use of digital media to create new forms
of narrative expression, in which manipulable computational
objects are integrated with text, graphics, and video.
Scratch - a new multimedia authoring environment
Resnick has just received a new NSF grant to build a
multimedia-authoring environment called Scratch. (This will
operate on top of the Squeak environment already developed
earlier by Alan Kay.) Scratch is a new programmable toolkit
that enables kids to create their own games, animated
stories, and interactive art - and share their creations
with one another over the Internet. Resnick's team is
especially focused on making a system that works well with
the Computer Clubhouse project being carried out by the
Media Lab. In the clubhouses, games definitely have a
significant interest with the inner city kids. Scratch
would have a rich media content with games as a major
component. Resnick's team is trying to make it easy to
program and control videos and music with
Scratch. It is completely designed with the Internet in
mind.
Scratch builds on the long tradition of Logo and Lego, but
takes advantage of new computational ideas and capabilities
to make it easier for kids to get started with programming
(lowering the floor) and to extend the range of what kids
can create and learn (raising the ceiling). The ultimate
goal is to help kids become fluent with digital media,
empowering them to express themselves creatively and make
connections to powerful ideas.
Resnick's group plans to create the system in such a way
that if a kid builds a game and has characters that she
wants to share with others; she will be able to do so
easily. One avenue that they are thinking of exploring is
to have sensors that connect with the computer. This
extends the possibility of the computer and gets the
physical world more involved in the possibilities of the
game. Resnick wants the clubhouse kids to design their own
Dance Dance Revolution or their own distance sensors. This
will put them in the position of interface designers in
addition to being game designers. A step beyond this is for
the kids to download what they design on to PDAs,
computers, etc. and play these downloaded games. Ultimately
Resnick wants the kids to control the distribution
capability as well as the designability of their games
creations.
Kids and Gender Differences in Design Projects
Resnick observes that after age 6, Lego becomes a boy's
toy. At age 9 or 10, in stores, it's mainly boys who are
buying Lego. To remove this gender disparity, it is
important how one introduces a new technology. The way the
topic is framed is important, especially in schools. If one
introduces it by saying "today we will make robots", -
mostly boys will be interested. But if one introduces it by
saying "we will make an interactive sculpture today", it
would interest both boys and girls. He recounts a time his
group worked in an elementary school and was building a toy
amusement theme park. A group of boys started building a
merry-go-round systematically and in a step-by-step manner
went about adding elements to it, like motors, etc. But the
girls who were building a Ferris wheel, decided to keep in
on the side to build a refreshment stand and have people
mulling around. After this was complete, they then went
back to the Ferris wheel and completed it. Resnick found
this difference in approach interesting. He feels that it
showed that kids need stories to play with, not just
objects. They also need multiple paths and adequate time to
finish all that they are interested in once they are
involved in playing games. One can't tell them, "This week,
we will create Ferris wheels only". If you do so, they may
finish the work in time, but not enjoy the process. On the
other hand, if you give them freedom, they explore more and
learn more.
Contact person - Mitch Resnick: mres-GGWXsB6tJanpgkiH4x7ZXw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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