The most important take-away for me was how students responded to the questions that Stephanie asked. Prompting them (in the After School Group) to tell stories created a situation where many students could not think past the tropes of Sponge Bob and Mario when asked for a character. Staying original and imaginative is most difficult but we did come up with some great initial ideas.

This week focused on major production by all of the groups. Most worked on the group posters for the two events. Mary Claire and I looked a bit at the grant proposal for the NSF, and brainstormed questions that we could have Anezka answer that would help fulfill some of the grant qualifications. After that I helped her (the best I could) in setting up her camera in another classroom that we were using to interview Anezka. On the whiteboard walls we added some of the ideas which we had been going over in previous classes. We included design thinking, systems theory, pollution and the things which cause water pollution, plastics, microplastics etc, and drew the diagram of the earth day project set up. We also included the relationship diagram between LCCS, our Parsons class, and the Baykeeper. It worked as a nice backdrop for where Anezka would be interviewed.

During the interview, Mary Claire asked many of the questions from the narrative sheet she had sent me, including a few we had collaborated on. Overall, the conversation flowed nicely, and it was very informative for when I begin to write some of the grant proposal. I did ask a question regarding education technology, and how this class and design thinking promotes education technology. Anezka’s answer was really intriguing. She spoke about how there are many people who think education technology is one thing over another, such as apps or google products vs something more basic. There are a lot of opinions about what constitutes technology as educational, and what can fall into the category of educational technology. The sphere in NYC for ed tech is huge, I spoke with some developers last semester on their ideas of it and its seems as if her answer was correct in this assumption. What was most interesting about her answer though, was that ed tech can really include anything, and even things that are not completely ‘technical.’ Many of the products began as narratives, or drawings, and did not include elements of ‘technology’ at all. Her answer made me think of the discrepancies between technology and more simple resources that were once considered ‘technology.’ Can’t a pencil be considered technology? What vital technologies are pushed to the side or ignored because they do not contain an electronic element? How is this impacting what is considered educational technology, and if they are paid attention to, how can these technologies that are ignored may greatly aid in education, as they have before, once again? I began to fall into a rabbit hole of questions, all of interest, but ones that do need to be thought of within a overall conversation. These are interesting to think of for the future of education, and the future of ed tech.

I talked briefly before class with Anezka about my developing role in the class, and what I will be doing for Earth Day/Play Tech. We went over how to post in the blog for the remainder of the semester, how this will be utilized for the grant and the importance of the blog itself for the class development. Each group went over a bit of the progress they have made, and what they may need help in doing.

Mary Claire and I started talking towards the end of the class about different types of take aways for the kids/families to receive at the end of the parsons experience. Throughout the week we touched base on working through some of the questions she wanted to ask for her documentary and her story arch. I sent her back some feedback on her interview questions. We also spoke about possible facts to go on bumper stickers or buttons which we found out could be made on the 10th floor.  I sent her a list to look over so that we could collaborate on together on which facts would be both striking/informative/fun. It is a fine line to walk between wanting these take aways to be informative and scary (because the facts are) which promote immediate action, and still family friendly. (I posted the list below my observation to talk about in class if we have time).

Tammy and I spoke a bit after class about my role, and where help was needed. I agreed to make prototypes posters for the events, which will now be done collaboratively with the class.

 

list from my email with Mary Claire:

Riverkeeper: 

• There are over165 million pieces of plastics floating in NY Harbor

Recycle across America: 

• Recycling prevents waste from going into oceans – it is proven, when there is a strong recycling culture, there is less litter and less waste going into ocean
• Americans throw away enough office paper each year to build a 12 foot high wall from Seattle to NY (a new wall every year). RECYCLE 

EPA website:

• Over 5 TRILLION pieces of plastic currently litter the ocean
• Plastics in the ocean effect 267 species globally
• Plastics in the ocean effect 86% of the oceans Sea turtles, 44% of seabirds, and 43% of marine mammals 
• Bring your own reusable bag when shopping!
• Carry a reusable water bottle!
• Say no to straws!
• Each year 1 million seabirds, 100,000 marine mammals and sea turtles will entangle themselves in or ingest plastic pollution
• Plastic waste makes up between 60 to 80% of total marine debris.
• 97% of all of Earths Water is in the ocean and seas. 
• 80% of the Earths surface is water 
• Typically, bottled water costs 2000 times more than tap water, is actually less safe to drink, and loses taste tests in competition with tap water. 

Ocean Conservatory:

• According to the Ocean Conservancy, six of the ten top contributors to marine debris are single-use (disposable) plastic products.
• #OceanOptimism
• Scientists estimate that more than 8 million metric tons of plastic is entering our ocean every year
• Plastics pollute not only the surfaces of the sea, sea animals, and beaches, but also the seafloor and ice!
•  Plastic has been found in 59% of sea birds like albatross and pelicans, in 100% of sea turtle species, and more than 25% of fish sampled from seafood markets around the world.
• Marine debris isn’t an ocean problem, its a PEOPLE PROBLEM
• Ocean Plastic Problems begin on Land
• 275 million metric tons of the worlds waste is plastic waste
• Join the International Coastal Cleanup on September 15th, 2018!
• 228,919, 809 pounds of trash have been collected since 1985!
• 12,160, 724 people have volunteered since 1985 to clean up the ocean!
• the average person uses 1.6 straws per day
• if 25,000 people pledge to skip the straw, we could save 5,000,000 straws!

National Geographic:

• Instead of packing your sandwich and snacks in plastic bags, use reusable containers or cloth sacks instead.
• Only 1 out of every 6 water bottles we use ends up being recycled.
• Recycling one plastic bottle can save enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for 6 hours! 

A lot of these are really depressing, but I think that may be what some people need as a wakeup call/education. But we could make some buttons happy like I’m a plastics warrior! or something like that? 

A cute resource:https://vimeo.com/35707347; I know we’ve talked a lot about plastic straws in class and the harm they can cause to aquatic life, I was thinking we could see if there could be an iPad set up, or a paper where people can take a pledge to fight against using plastic straws or bring their own bags places? Strawwars.org is a great resource, but is meant for businesses and restaurants to pledge, not individual people. (https://takeaction.oceanconservancy.org/page/20224/action/1?ea.tracking.id=18LPBCOAXX) This year’s International Coastal Cleanup is Saturday, September 15th, 2018.

Fact websites: from http://www.recycleacrossamerica.org/recycling-facts, https://www.theoceancleanup.com/milestones/, https://www.riverkeeper.org/get-involved/minimize-your-impact/ https://www.epa.gov/trash-free-waters/what-you-can-do-about-marine-debris https://www3.epa.gov/safewater/kids/index.html https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/explore/science/plastic-pollution/#earth-day-pollution.jpg

This week we worked on creating a story to bring to LCCS next week. After brainstorming and thinking about teaching, we spoke about our mission and extending our class goal to beyond earth day. We were given the task of coming up with keywords to make this goal more expanded beyond just our April 21st mission. Afterwords, Chris and I were paired up to work together to work together to create a story. Collaborating together was interesting, we both wanted to use a theme that neither of us had come up with so we could equally contribute and have equal ownership. We decided on contamination of water, and conversed on localized spots of contamination, as well as more broadly such as the overall water. After deciding to take the point of view of the water, we decided to use a wave as our character. We brainstormed some locations where water is being contaminated and I took notes on these for our story. When we first started to write the actual story, we realized we needed to make it more fun so Chris suggested that Wayne be the grandfather and have his home be contaminated by a garbage patch. Then he goes to visit his family in these other locations which are also being polluted. We wanted this story to teach a lesson, while also playing on the senses, and still being fun. I liked the idea of stemming from the broad and narrowing in, so going from the ocean to more localized sites inward to land, and ending in the middle of land where ocean pollution may be easily seen. Although I am not sure what prototype we will create for class next week (a storyboard,  a physical Wayne the wave, a puzzle etc.) I am excited to see what the students think of Wayne and our story so far.

In this week’s class, I catch up with the class. First, I get a general idea of what our class have done with the students from LCCS last week, it is really interesting to know we have achieved so much progress on our way to the project. Also we start to narrow down our ideas by written down analyze and classify the keywords. And we started to work on some deliverable stuffs in order to present it to the LCCS students next week. Really looking forward to meet them again!

I think it was helpful to narrow down low not themes and to organize our thoughts collectively. I would like to teach them something they don’t know with their concepts they already understand.

This week we generated a bunch of keywords related to water, pollution etc. Kristiana and I then discussed how to synthesize (sp?) some of these ideas into a digestible story. We eventually landed on an ARG (alternate reality game) idea where the user is a spy investigating the ways we’ve been brainwashed into using plastics in our daily routines. By observing and documenting plastics use in the immediate surroundings the spy learns that these problems dont have one single solution and can feel overwhelming. However by the end they leave with the sense that they have a keener awareness of the issue on a grassroot level and are able to make small changes in their daily life.

This week was ideation week. We started creating stories that will eventually culminate into an experience. Griffin and I are leaning towards a learning experience through investigation. Later after class we brainstormed more story elements and discussed what made this detective/spy idea interesting to us and then made up several prototype ideas. I think what we need to look out for is making sure that our story is flexible enough that the kids can contribute their ideas and become a viable experience for Earth Day. Some thoughts that crossed my mind: what do we personally want to teach to kids and those at the venue?

What was most successful about in this class to me was the ability to narrow down the topic through the exercise. Through asking her questions and writing the answers down I could easily gauge her interests.  I figured out she was more interested in systematic and behavioral change. I think the most difficult parts of the last class were about how vague the question of “how do you feel about water” is.  Maybe we should divide ourselves into subtopic groups so the students can choose what topic most interests them

I’ve mentioned before in class that I lack teaching experience, but I recall a time when my martial arts instructor asked me to teach a junior student a complicated form sequence. I assumed he asked me to teach because I was experienced in this particular form (I’d been practicing it for over two years). But then why wouldn’t my instructor, who is much older and a far better teacher, instruct it himself? Surely he has practiced and taught this form much longer than I have? There were a couple of moments I noticed when my junior was learning this form from me. We were about seven years apart and the age gap only made us more comfortable with each other. That respectable, yet awkward student-teacher relationship was instead a peer-to-peer relationship where my junior can comfortably ask questions that helped him practice better. Another thing I’ve noticed while teaching is that I continuously learned even in the act of teaching: I had to review what I knew so that I wouldn’t miss a single detail, constantly pay attention to how my junior was responding to my advice, and correct him if he made a mistake. It was often the questions that juniors would ask where I learned the most. They would ask how to make specific movements or even how I would practice the movements at home. These questions would make me reflect on my practice and even refine my physical details. In the end, we would both grow as student and teacher, learning is never one-sided.

This was the mindset I wanted to bring to our visit with the kids. As long as they were curious and maintained a peer-to-peer relationship with me, we would be able to work together and make a great project. If we could find out what makes them curious, then those at the Liberty Science Center will be able to feel the same way.

More ideas!!

• “Climate change isn’t new”–present interactive climate change data of earth vs. when human civilization began. In the form of: motion video projection, interactive touch board, or invisible infographic. Inspiration: the spiral infographic of the omnidome in the Natural History Museum
• “Games of Thrones is actually about climate change”–compare climate change with story elements for GoT. In the form of illustrations, video clip comparisons. Inspiration: there’s a paper on this, will link later
• “Your mission is”–collect people’s numbers, send them out into the open space, after a few minutes they receive a message, “You are in grave danger. Tiny microbeads disguised as cameras are hidden in the water.” Then they’ll receive an audio message that gives them instructions that culminate to the end of the story mission and a background to story elements. In form of: experiential audio/text. Inspiration: the app Zombies, Run!
• “System modeling”—have systems (water, plastic, human) interact with each other (through touch objects or ui system) and project motion graphics of results. Inspiration: Jay Forrester system dynamics, simulations