Education Portfolio
An exploration on developing computational thinking, programming, and creativity skills with K-12 students through projects created during my year in the Michigan State Master of Arts in Education program. Many of these works were used in outreach programs or teacher workshops as part of the Art and Science on the Go program at the Cranbrook Institute of Science. These works are organized into three broad topics, although many projects could fit into several categories.
Computational Thinking: Problem solving with the aid of computers
Computational Thinking Resources
A site created for K-5 teachers interested in integrating computational thinking into their curriculum, including an explanation of key skills such as abstraction, problem decomposition, and data analysis and lesson plan ideas across the curriculum.
Internet of Thinkers
A site created to explore research and lesson plans on using Arduinos, Raspberry Pis, and other computing devices in teaching computational thinking (CT). Much of my project experience was integrated into an outreach program on creating interactive art. My ultimate findings showed the CT is closely aligned with creative thinking and design thinking skills, and…
LED Bits
A video created using a Raspberry Pi and a programmable LED strip to demonstrate how computers store information using binary code. The program was created in Python, a language I went on to use with students in summer camps. This is an example of how principles of computer science can be taught to a wide audience.
Creativity and Innovation: Developing skills in create novel, useful solutions
Algorithmic Art Appreciation
An exploration on how (re)creating art using algorithms can lead to increased understanding of a work of artist Gene Davis that abstracted the motion of a jack-in-the-box. This project was created using Processing, a popular tool with new media artists. This was adapted into a lesson plan on using PencilCode with students.
The Art of Algorithms
A proposal for a museum exhibit on art, algorithms, and their role in creativity. This is the culmination of a semester long exploration of applying creativity skills to the topic of algorithms, including musical understandings of sorting algorithms, creating patterns in Scratch, and acting out key programming tools through a play.
Innovation as a Learning Ethic
An annotated diagram created to explore the relationship between developing individual creativity and group innovation within an education setting. This was created as part of a group project tackling the “wicked problem” of developing innovation in a field that resists change. This diagram was used within a professional development workshop to help teachers understand how they can support students’ creativity…
Museum Education: Teaching within an informal setting
Creativity and Computing
A personal manifesto on the use of creative coding within informal education being used to create a set of public programs within the museum. This carefully selected list of resources includes information on understanding the nature of teaching within a museum, developing creative solutions, using inquiry-based approaches, developing computational thinking, and tools for engaging students in…
Universal Design for Learning
An adaptation of an outreach program that integrates art, mathematics, science, and social studies to incorporate Universal Design for Learning principles, which seeks to accommodate a wide range of learners from the beginning of designing curriculum. Since museum program serve a diverse audience, it was useful to consider these guidelines. This work on the lesson plan was…
Visualizing Sleep
Created during my MAET year as a collaboration between a museum and a school by providing the experience and tools to allow 12th grade psychology students to record their motions during a night’s sleep using an Arduino and accelerometer. Students then examined their sleep through statistical analysis and visualized it in creative ways through the use…