Mary Claire

This week I was able to begin filming and really get a feel for the camera. I was able to get some footage of Anezka teaching, which I think I will use in the class. I was also able to get a lot of footage of the class processing with Stephanie which I think will come in handy with relaying the idea of what Design Thinking is and also the brainstorming session of the class. Overall, it was good. Although, looking back over my footage, some of it came across as grainy and I would like to avoid that in the future. I will need to reshoot Christiana explaining her and Griffith’s project.

Ivy

In this week’s class I have become more clear about our projects and the purpose of our projects. We have a short but intensive online meeting with Stephanie from baykeeper, we get to know more about their previous projects and become more clear about which part of the polluting progress she and her organization is more focused to. Which is the stop using and throwing plastic products part, instead of the collecting and recycle plastic part. This is very different from what I have thought before. And I think our projects should slightly lean on this point.

Also, according to Anezka’s observation in LCCS, the children there are really interested in the trash soccer idea. Which is also my interest, so I think I’m going to pay more attention on this project, and also communicate with the children in LCCS and see what we can do to refine the rules and the materials will be used in this project. Btw, I do have played with MadMapper for a couple of times, so I think I might be able to help operate the projectors.

Angela

Class this week was interesting. We went over what progress we have had on our prototypes. Chris and I agreed that we wanted to do some type of physical game for either Wayne the Wave or whatever idea Wayne turns into with collaborations with LCCS. We then spoke with the woman from the BayKeepers (I apologize I forgot her name). She was extremely informative about the BayKeepers motivations and three pronged approach to cleaning the Hudson. We individually spoke to her about our projects. She liked Chris’s idea about Wayne the wave, approaching pollution from the water’s point of view, as well as personifying water. She did give us feedback on making a more concrete game, and the idea of using twister as a game. I think once we meet next week and really solidify on our group ideas, I would love to create a physical game for Earth Day. I think a game that the kids can play would not only be educational, but healthy and add a great break from other activities that may be very educational and overload their brains/attention spans. Mary Claire, Christiana and I spoke briefly about organizing the event, and how that would go about. We talked about how to make sure that the kids do not become over academically stimulated, and that the come away with an actual educational moment from Earth Day. After, Tammy asked us to narrow down our thesis for each project. This was difficult to do because of how broad some of our topics are, and what motives we have behind them. I also left class a bit discouraged, I wanted to stay longer for the LCCS conference call, but had to get to class. I also was left a bit confused about what collaboration we need to do in order to mold our own projects with the LCCS students. I feel a bit like there is a disconnect between what both classes are doing, our time frames, and how much work we actually need to get done in a relatively short amount of time.

 

Anezka

My time was mostly spent running to LCCS and helping Stephanie and Mike manage the 21st Century (in day school) and After School classes. We noted that the 21st Century class is not motivated to make digital games. We also noted that LCCS could be a great site for activation of a controlled group. If we were able to spend this next month collecting and recycling the trash at LCCS, we might notice people’s addiction to plastic containers, plastic spoons and forks. We could present these findings at Earth Day (it’s an idea that would fit well with Angela’s skill as an Anthropologist! And Mary Claire’s budding skills as a videographer). I am also very aware that we need to form teams and that this has been difficult in light of the asymmetrical ideation for projects. When Stephanie and I asked the day school kids what they wanted to commit to for their earth day project, they all voted for Trash Soccer. However, when I asked them what the rules of such a game would be and where we could get a ball made of trash that wouldn’t fall apart on the field, they were a bit stymied.  Mr. Diamond suggested starting with a container in which we could compact trash. I asked them to be creative about the trash soccer game rules. Why play it by the same rules we already know? We could have three or four goals? We could make it about who brings in the biggest and most creative ball of trash from one easily recyclable source(would have to be a school competition).

 

The other projects that got a few hands in the day school were the under-water city and the hydrangea project. The under-water city could be something that Stephanie might tackle with her A-frame VR (Google Cardboard) group.

 

The After School kids were interested in a wider range of projects. Stephanie is putting notes together of who is who on each themed team. Projects such as Wayne the Wave, and Hydrangea were well-liked. Just so that you all know, we envision the Hydrangea project as a 360 dome projection where the interaction comes from an I-pad (or physical computing controller) and the slider can take you through a time-line to see a beautiful forest of hydrangeas change into a dark and dim landscape of rotting plants. This is a very sketchy idea right now and I asked Esmee and Angelina to storyboard it. We don’t have Parsons involved with this project yet. We need some expertise about dome projection (Kristina/Ivey?) In the After School class,  a project by Xavier called John the Vegan (a zombie apocalypse kind of narrative) can be played in the meadow or Xavier was dreaming of making it a video game. (Parsons students?)