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The GeekLab
A few days ago I was working with a group of 1st Graders in a Technology/STEM specials rotation. We were learning a bit about programming logic through the customization of the game, FlappyBird. I was not stunned when every boy & girl, was highly engaged with this exploration of programming logic. I was, however, surprised when one student, Peter, opened up the Element Inspector within the site and started changing the appearance to many of the icons on the web page. I said, "Peter! This is amazing. How did you figure out how to do this?" He replied by explaining how he accidentally right clicked on a part of the page that gave him access to the Element Inspector. He continued to click around and figured out how to change icons on the Flappy Bird page. He spent the entire time manipulating the page instead of programming. He made it clear that he knew what was going on when he started modeling the steps for a few of his buddies.
This helped affirm something that's been gnawing in my gut over the last 2 years: In a traditional elementary school, the athletes have an outlet in P.E. The musicians find a home in Music. The artists love going to Art class. But what about the geek? We have a growing contingency of kids who love to tinker, build, and make through the use of logical reasoning. Where do they go? It is my firm belief that we need to add a new Specials to the elementary school. We've also begun to see an explosion in the STEM movement: a fantastic way to integrate technology into the classroom. Also, many schools have added "technology" as a rotation or hired an individual to coordinate technology with a classroom teacher to integrate with the curriculum. We need to see continued growth in this area as technology standards increase for teachers. But applying technology in the classroom is completely separate from what takes place in a GeekLab. We need to serve the nerd and give these kids a place to explore freely. I pose that we need a new movement. We need a brand new program with a new set of standards for elementary schools to adopt. Schools need to invest in a new Specials: Programming Logic. I've searched far and wide for a curriculum that uses this term as its umbrella, but I've found nothing. It does not exist. Nor do any standards live to support what a geek does. We are seeing a movement thanks to Hadi Parrovi and his Hour-of-Code. But we need to take this further. A geek needs a video-game-design-invention-kit-robotic-programming-3D Printing-Photoshopping-MovieMaking-SoundBoarding-MineCrafting-JavaScripting-Engineering-algorithm-rocket-building-quadcoptering place to tinker, create and make it possible to physically touch that which is imagined. He or she needs to explore in a place where they make a ton of mistakes to finally arrive at a successful product. Walls need to be filled with student-made quotes like the one from Edison:
I have not failed (to make a lightbulb). I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
and
People tend to forget that play is serious (David Hockney)
People tend to forget that play is serious (David Hockney)
and
Newbs only!
(And of course a solid representation of posters from StarWars, Lord of the Rings and Calvin&Hobbes.)
The room should be flexible with creative ways to sit, work & tinker. Some kids stand, some kids sit, some like to chill-out on the floor. The surfaces should be made available to support the jotting down of ideas &/or doodling with expo markers.
I'm new at this. And I'm certainly no where near the brightest of the bunch, but thanks to our savvy district and social networks, we've begun pursuing a variety of ways to explore programming logic in a maker-type of environment, but in a Special's rotation. Here are a few things I've tried or will be attempting soon:
I'm new at this. And I'm certainly no where near the brightest of the bunch, but thanks to our savvy district and social networks, we've begun pursuing a variety of ways to explore programming logic in a maker-type of environment, but in a Special's rotation. Here are a few things I've tried or will be attempting soon:
- Code.org
- Scratch
- Makey-Makey
- LittleBits
- Lego Robotics
- programming apps for the iPad
- Stop Motion Animation using iPad's, iMovie, GarageBand (Mac only)
- Photoshopping using iPad's
- Rubix Cube Algorithm
- Low Orbit Balloon Launch (Cherry Creek District initiative by Jon Pierce)
- Programming of Sphero's
- Primo
Some of these are free, some cost a little, some cost a lot. But so does starting Music, PE, and Art programs. In addition to each of these programs you have things like "field day" for PE. With Music you have performances. With Art you have art-shows. So, with Programming logic, you'd have Invention Fairs.
I'm not saying that traditional technology classroom integration should evolve to this. STEM programs and Technology Educators will ALWAYS have a place to support the learning in the classroom. The GeekLab aligns with the Arts, it's completely separate from the classroom curriculum. We live in 2015. Our kindies will be graduating in 2028. We should probably give them a place to freely take time to design, create, goof-up and apply logic & programming by the time they graduate.
