Collaborative design class renders exceptional new media projects 

It’s presentation day for Professor Shelley Goldman’s course, “Collaborative Design and Research of Technology-Integrated Curriculum.” Participating undergraduate and graduate students, local teachers, visiting scholars and faculty are gathered in Room 127, one of Wallenberg Hall’s advanced resource classrooms, to show off their projects to a standing-room-only crowd. 

Funded with a grant from the National Science Foundation, the course is designed to foster multidisciplinary research and collaboration. Students come from education, computer science, engineering, and beyond, ranging from sophomores to Ph.D. candidates. Stanford, University of Colorado, Boulder, Drexel University, University of Pennsylvania and SRI International are all participating in this NSF consortium.  

“We are creating technology so it is really good for students to be able to show it off on the large screens (of the room), use the class laptops and try out prototypes, mark up their changes on the large screens and post it where everyone can review it,” says Goldman on why the Wallenberg teaching space is ideal for her class. “There are a lot of ways the space and the technology open up what we can do.” 

Each project includes three team members who work with a K-12 educator, a coach -- a former student from the course, a T.A. or faculty member -- and a content expert. The group is required to go through iterative design process to create a technology-integrated curriculum to address a learning need for a K-12 classroom. Teams test prototypes and the final curriclum and technology tool in a real classroom, usually the classroom of their partner teacher.

“I was really impressed with the group,” says Palo Alto elementary school teacher Mary Lowe, who has come to Wallenberg to hear her teams’ presentation. “They assured me my participation would be low maintenance and it was. My second graders really enjoyed the process and became totally engaged. It made learning exciting.” Lowe plans to use the software her team developed in again next year. Emma Mercier and Angela Booker, the two teaching and research assistants for the course for the last four years, acted as coaches. 

In teams of three, students present their projects, each one an Applet, or small software program: 

• “The Seasons, A Scavenger Hunt,” allows middle school children to practice their skills in geography and logic by sorting parts of the world by weather and then hunting for various places based on clues such as, “Look for an island that looks like an animal.” A satellite image of the earth, similar to Google Earth, interacts with 20 scavenger hunt clues. “Your mission,” the program states, “is to explore the earth.” The students developed the program in association with the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose as a pre-visit activity for middle schoolers.

• “Algebra Quadratic Equations” presents real-life problems to Algebra 1 students in order to help them see how quadratic equations relate to tangible problems. The example is easy for kids to relate to: Mother’s Day is coming up and I have a frame and a picture for my mom, but I need to add a matte. How can we figure out the size of the matte? A colorful game lets students manipulate different sized frames and mattes, fill in measurements as they work and solve the equation. The goal, says the student team, is to make a connection between real world problems and mathematics in the classroom.

• “Weather Wisdom, the Bee Smart Applet,” contains three activities for its young users to help them understand the impact of weather and its relationship to daily life. Students use addition and subtraction to solve problems such as what happens if the temperature goes down ten degrees from 42 degrees F and it rains? Simulating these conditions in the Applet by adjusting a thermometer and wind gauge makes “snow” fly, obscuring the bee character with white and producing delighted giggles among children.

After demonstrating their java and Flash-based projectsEM, which had been developed with numerous iterations throughout the quarter, students offered next steps and improvements they would like to make. Adding sound, creating levels of difficulty and running more field tests were all high on their lists. Some of the Applets will be offered to the Tech Museum and also posted online (see web site below) for continuing development. 

“We are already improving K-12 education,” said Goldman to her class at the conclusion of the session. “The idea is to make a difference out in the world with real people and the work they are doing. I am going home from the quarter happy and I hope you are as well.” 

For more information: www.trails-project.org

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