CEP 818: Synthesizing (Elevator Pitch)

The Pitch




The Tweet

CEP 818: Synthesizing (The Argument)

How Do I Love Thee

By: Rachael Hilliker

I am not a classroom teacher; however I would argue that we are all students and teachers in some respect. What I have learned in the past few months about the importance of creativity in teaching and learning has been enlightening, inspiring and compelling.  Creating a compelling experience for a student is not necessarily something the average teacher may consider in outlining the curriculum and lesson plans. Teachers often hope to just have adequate time to cover statistics, dates, names and other necessary components for successful standardized testing. What if you could cover all of that material more efficiently than through lectures and quizzes while allowing for more time to reflect on your student’s achievements? What if rather than spending hours grading long research papers that may or may not be remembered by the student years down the road you could invest more time into fine tuning the compelling experience your classroom is for each learner?

Besides our own observations that teaching can be challenging when it comes to engaging the learners, there has also been recent research that supports this. “The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) was developed in 1966 and renormed five times…. Analysis of the normative data showed that creative thinking scores remained static or decreased, starting at sixth grade. Results also indicated that since 1990, even as IQ scores have risen, creative thinking scores have significantly decreased. The decrease for kindergartners through third graders was the most significant (Kim, 2011).” 

When you look around your classroom, do your students look bored, confused, or even distracted? Have your attempts at making the lesson the more engaging felt as though they were missing something? “The significant decrease of Strengths scores since 1990 indicates that over the last 20 years, children have become less emotionally expressive, less energetic, less talkative and verbally expressive, less humorous, less imaginative, less unconventional, less lively and passionate, less perceptive, less apt to connect seemingly irrelevant things, less synthesizing, and less likely to see things from a different angle (Kim, 2011).”  So what can teachers do get creativity back into the classroom and create compelling experiences for their students and themselves? If you take heed of the following cognitive tools, you will create a more dynamic and compelling experience for your students and for yourself.

In the book “Sparks of Genius” by Robert and Michelle Root-Bernstein, they provide a step by step analysis and guide for navigating the thirteen cognitive tools they identified as being necessary to fostering the creative process. The tools they have identified are as follows: observing, imaging, abstracting, recognizing patterns, forming patterns, analogizing, body thinking, empathizing, dimensional thinking, modeling, playing, transforming, and synthesizing. By combining some of the tools above, we can condense those tools into seven steps to take in the creative process using all of those tools: perceiving, abstracting, patterning, embodied thinking, modeling, playing and synthesizing. These are not just steps for the teacher to take in formulating their lessons, but they are also steps the student should take in learning the material.  

Regardless of your topic, these steps can be taken by both the teacher and the student in the learning process. The results will be more effective communication of material, a higher level of engagement from students, a deeper level of critical thinking on the subject matter, and overall higher level of satisfaction of the compelling experience by all those involved. Although connecting topics like social inequality with tools like “patterning’ may seem an easy task when initially considered, after all there are stratification patterns in social demographics to begin with.  However, by incorporating the cognitive tools in your formulation you will begin to perceive these patterns in a more abstract way.  

“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou is a great example for a student of any age to explore social injustice. Giving the assignment to a student to read this poem and explain its meaning in a paper would be good way to see if the student understands the basic literary concepts, illustrations of social injustice and the inter-disciplinary inferences that can be made. This poem invokes various feelings for the reader. The use of visual words can create images in our minds. When one reads the poem over and over they can find that the images change. What does the poem smell like? Taste like? Look like? Sound like? Feel like? The words on the page don't smell, taste, sound or feel like anything. They look like words. What does social injustice smell like? Perhaps it smells like the homeless man on the street. It might taste bitter (figuratively). It may sound like a person crying or a bird singing (happily or sadly). It could feel cold or lonely like the inside of a prison cell for a wrongly convicted person. It may look like a caged bird. Take the poem and try to perceive it differently than a standard lesson plan would allow. 

People can have varied perceptions about paintings, poems, pictures, events and even words. Perceiving a topic differently can help students make a connection to the material and also foster creativity. Completing this type of activity can help the teacher and students perceive things differently. How many different ways can we present a lesson about poetry or social injustice? These activities are not only helpful in thinking of how to design lessons on a new level  but also in generating ideas on how students will make connections with topics and activities that they can do to make those connections.  

Having a visual vocabulary to go along with the poem can help the reader think about the meaning of the poem. Does the caged bird "sing" because it’s happy? Is the caged bird trying to find the "good" in being caged? Is the "free" bird really free? What does freedom look like? How is a caged bird like social inequality? Are the impoverished like the caged bird? Some may feel like they are caged going to an office everyday and looking out the window at people walking by wishing they were "free" to be out there as well. 

As one moves along in the activity, they may consider how others would re-image or perceive the poem. If one asks students to do a presentation where they choose photographs specifically to illustrate the poem, would their photos be entirely different? What would happen if they were asked to take their own photos to illustrate the poem and present it? The results would most likely show their level of understanding of the poem itself and it may reveal something about their own world view. What if current events were incorporated into the lesson as well?

By overlapping an image of caged bars on top of an image showing the paradox many voters experience suddenly before a presidential election the poem is being reimaged. Many people feel the new voter id laws are social inequality at its worst and they are "singing" about it. They feel "caged" because it is a law being implemented by government who has control over the people. They feel as though they are standing on the graves of dreams because their right to vote has been taken away from them-them being specific demographics like the elderly, blacks, students, impoverished, etc. The "free" bird would be those in other demographics-the rich, white, typically middle age male who naturally would have a driver's license no matter what because their demographic relies much more on one than other demographics. The passing of these laws clip the wings and tie the feet of the caged bird. 

The cognitive tool of patterning can assist in problem solving. By recognizing patterns in math, language, and even society-one can better "see" and understand the problem and potential solution(s). Patterns in social equality or inequality through charts and graphs are very easy to find online. However, part of teaching social justice issues is connecting the data with the emotional side of the student. While one may think some activists are "born" in current social problem classes, is it because the student is able to see the patterns in history on their own doing and not because of a stellar bar graph? How can teachers make these patterns real for them?
In a caste system, the social injustices are felt most in the impoverished populations as well as the minorities (sometimes these are overlapping). Review the educational disparities among men and women and ethnic minorities over the last 100 years by going to Harvard’s website.  They have law school graduating class photos all the way back to the late 1800’s. Seeing the people and being able to recognize their race and gender while they are all in a pattern (in rows lined up) would be a great way to illustrate the disparities in education.

To make the patterns connect for them, I believe it is necessary to use examples that have a human connection. What better way to connect than with photos of actual humans? 

Visually,  photos represent the statistics regarding these disparities over time. It is obvious that Harvard (like many other colleges) had mostly male Caucasian/white graduates for years.

How do you abstract social injustice or inequality? Cartoonist often present current events related to social injustice or inequality in their work.


Photographers often capture dramatic examples of social injustices or inequalities due to current or staged events.

Typically in a peaceful protest, you don't see the participants being pepper sprayed. The officer was later reprimanded for his actions. In the photo, it is easy to see people holding up cell phones and recording the injustice.

A depiction of a shopper walking by a poor man showing, once again, the gap between the "haves" and the "have nots." In this photo, the abstract depiction of the subject matter can prompt the viewer of this photo to "see" different things by observing. One might not necessarily only draw the conclusion of social inequality by looking at it. One may see it as -- a "problem" of homelessness in the urban areas. One could also see it as the two people in the photo not noticing each other because they are so different.
With abstracting and analogies, we try looking at two topics that are seemingly unrelated. How much do our birth traits effect our social position in life? With an infographic the student can see that by certain birth traits we are closer to success or at the very least access to certain things-education, health care, etc. Try to creating an infographic like the one below:


While creating an infographic might not be "abstracting" the subject matter directly, it may be an activity that leads to opening up the doorway to abstracting.  The idea of an infographic to depict social disparities is not commonplace. Infographics are usually used to visually represent data.  While actual data isn’t used in the above infographic, it is illustrating the concept of the disparities visually.


Much of our access to education, health care and "wealth" can be determined by where are born (developed or undeveloped nation), our gender, our "race", ethnicity, and the socio-economic status of our parents. Sure, one can achieve upward mobility-for women the easiest way to do so is by "marrying up".  However, getting the student to think about the fact that if they had been born another gender, race, in a different place in the world---how much would their lives be different and would they have taken a different path?

Social injustice or inequality inherently involves emotion-and embodied thinking incorporates our emotional impulses as much as body movement itself. The Blue-Eyed/Brown-Eyed experiment conducted by Jane Elliot illustrates embodied thinking very well. While an Institutional Review Board (IRB) may not be very fond of one conducting this experiment the way Dr. Elliot did, it is possible to incorporate this experiment (briefly) into a lesson plan even by just showing the PBS special created about it rather than conduct the actual experiment itself. PBS's website even has a Teacher's Guide which states: "A Class Divided is an encore presentation of the classic documentary on third-grade teacher Jane Elliott's "blue eyes/brown eyes" exercise, originally conducted in the days following the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. This guide is designed to help you use the film to engage students in reflection and dialogue about the historical role of racism in the United States, as well as the role of prejudice and stereotyping in students' lives today. Because the film deals with racism and prejudice, it may raise deep emotions for both you and your students. Some students may be confronted with privilege for the first time while others may see an affirmation of a lifetime of discrimination. As you see in the film, frustration, anger, and pain are not uncommon responses to being confronted with bias and inequity. To prepare yourself, plan to spend some time viewing and reflecting on the film by yourself or with trusted colleagues, family, or friends before bringing it in the classroom. That way you won't be processing your own raw emotions while also trying to help students deal with their own potentially intense reactions."
John Stossel discussed this experiment along with other stereotypes at one time. An interesting part of his story is when Dr. Elliot reenacts this experiment many years later with students who know it is an experiment and yet it still invokes strong emotions in them-tears, anger, frustration, etc. This is something these students will never forget as an experience-and their entire bodies reacted to it. The research subjects empathized with the subject matter and felt the emotions. It was a compelling experience and it taught them very valuable lessons about stereotyping, social inequality and social injustice in an atypical format.

Another example of embodied thinking as it relates to social justice would be protesting. "Standing together" to protest something you feel is an injustice is allowing your body to speak for your mind on a topic. History has shown us time after time instances where people physically protest (picket lines, chaining themselves to trees, forming human chains, etc.) to send their message to others (government, unions, societies, corporations, etc.).  "Standing up" for something you believe in is a physical expression of belief as much as it is a figurative explanation of actions.  Creating an activity where students create protests signs displaying their personal viewpoints and having them stand in front of the class while holding those signs would be an excellent activity that would convey the step of embodied thinking. 

Two other cognitive tools teachers should examine in the classroom are modeling and playing. Take for example an online role playing video game from Games for Change. "Like most game prototypes created by the students at the GAMBIT Game Lab, A Closed World was designed to explore and research different aspects of games, in this case, the lack of compelling video game content for LGBTQ youth (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer). A Closed World takes the gameplay aesthetics and mechanics of ‘JRPGs’ (Japanese role playing games) and puts you in control of a character of ambiguous gender that begins exploring a forest on the edge of town. Disregarding rumors of ‘demons’ that exist in the forest who have the ability to ‘destroy’ your village, your character must overcome the hardships of a forbidden relationship by exploring what lies inside the forest. Through this journey, players battle the forest’s ‘demons’ and the ideals they are trying to force upon them. The players’ only defense is their logic, passion, ethics, and the ability to remain calm during conflict. As ‘demons’ attack with their beliefs, they must fight back and defy their ideas of what’s ‘normal’ and what love is supposed to look like."

While playing this game students may experience emotional responses confronting the demons in the game. Using this game in the classroom or as homework even to generate discussion on the societal views of LGTBQ people and perhaps create discussion regarding the local communities’ treatment of, policies that support or discriminate against LGTB people. Whether the student can relate to the views regarding LGTBQ people because of a personal experience does not need to be discussed prior to the game for it creates a very compelling experience on its own. 

Games allow the student to have an emotional experience with topics and model the situations others face daily when they deal with them. When a student simply reads a chapter about discrimination or authoritarian control and is able to recite the theories involved, he or she has learned information. However, when a student plays a game they are able to put those theories into practice and see the results of their choices immediately. While both of the games have scripts and don't allow for complete free thinking, they do model typical responses that the average person would most likely take. Enabling the student to still have choices over how they play the game is an example of our everyday real world experiences that shape sociological theories and norms.
In the publication "Simple Games for Teaching Sociological Perspectives: Four Examples of the Do-It-Yourself Approach" by Roger Straus, the author illustrates sociological perspectives by way of role playing games. They are designed allow for much more creative freedoms for the players.

The first game he discusses is a "Gender Reversal Game". In the game, the players assume the gender role of the opposite sex and carry out improvisational role playing situations where the student is asked to model the behavior (body language, mannerisms, voice inflection, vernacular, etc.) of the opposite sex.
The "gender roles" we have defined by society are changing-and in fact have changed drastically since this publication in 1986.  Using such a game in the classroom could involve adding a decade and give specific scenarios to re-enact.  In other words, behave like a member of the opposite sex in the 1950's in the scenario of "dinner table" or "date night" (men would be acting like women from the 1950s and women acting like men from the 1950s in those situations).  Of course the game could still be used as intended and ask them to take on modern day gender roles-but have the lines between men and women been blurred to the point of not knowing where that line is? A 1950s female reenactment of dinner time may include the female putting the dinner she prepared on the table and asking how her husband’s day was.  A modern day female reenactment of dinner time may include asking her stay at home husband what restaurant they are eating at. Although these two examples could occur in any decade-which decade is each scenario more prevalent in and would that affect the roles the game players choose. Will the students construct their roles differently if they are given a scenario and a decade?

It has been said that if you really want to learn about a person-their world view, character, values and so on-play a game with them for one hour. Putting people outside of their comfort zones by asking them to pretend to be something they are not can really open up their eyes to their own stereotypes and labels of others. It can teach them a lot about their own world view as well as allow them to explore other views.
This activity could also be done in an online environment. A virtual room could be used where students create an avatar that fits the character they are supposed to play. Design elements on how they create their avatar can be considered the same way the "body language" element of the in person activity was to be considered. They could talk in a forum setting after being given a prompt about the activity and their interactions would follow the same guidelines as the in person activity but take longer to complete (a week as opposed to an hour). 

By taking a journey through these cognitive tools and asking your students to do the same, you will be learning and teaching concepts creatively. Approaching teaching and learning with creativity will create compelling experiences for teachers and students. These compelling experiences will stay with everyone involved for many years and they will share them with others as Jane Elliot’s students did. We can get through the material, our students can pass tests and our objectives can be met for now through standard teaching methods. However, the question is do we want to teach for today or tomorrow?

Well....do you hate school but love education?

littleBits Implementation

As a non-teacher, I struggled in implementing my lesson plan. I reached out to a few different institutions who were unable to accommodate me in the time frame I needed in order to successfully implement my lesson plan. Since I wasn't able to complete action research in the format I had intended, I decided to take a different approach. I researched online various videos that others had recorded in regards to littleBits in general. I composed a LiveBinder to collect my research:

While the littleBits community section of their website provided a few examples more applicable to my actual lesson plan design of providing everyday household objects in addition to the littleBits components, I also found a lot of interesting videos on YouTube of kids playing with littleBits.  In some of the YouTube videos, the parents gave some instruction while other videos were only of the kids working with them. It is unclear how much knowledge the kids had of littleBits or circuitry before playing with them. It is difficult to evaluate their learning process without an assessment of any kind, but you can still observe the learning process for them in their play. 

Many of the community postings on the littleBits site were done by kids and some were done by adults (presumably based on the information in the videos).  The website also provided some “lessons” which gave a list of bits needed to complete a task, a list of steps to take in assembling the project, and sometimes a video instruction of how to complete the task.  Many videos on their website were done at maker type fairs, community events or classroom environments. Again, it was difficult to assess the knowledge the kids had prior to their creations and how much instruction was provided to them in circuitry in general or in creating their end products. 

What was most fascinating to me was that littleBits says the recommended age for use of their products is 8 and older. While this may be partially attributed to using batteries and the use of small parts, I found that many videos on YouTube were of children as young as two years old creating things (with parental supervision).  Watching these videos taught me a few things about predicting the success of my littleBits lesson plan in the future.  First, there may not be any prior knowledge needed in order to put together these circuits simply because of their color coding and magnet behavior. Second, while some children may not be capable of explaining the circuitry component of their creation, it is clear that they quickly learn what each color part is responsible for even if they cannot verbalize it. Third, trial and error is clearly an important component for understanding the technology of littleBits. Finally, I learned that free play with the littleBits may be an even more important activity for the kids than a pre-defined lesson plan.

CEP 818: How do I love Thee: Play

In performing all of the previous activities in this class, as well as the modeling chapter being the "freshest" on my mind, I came across an older publication that I really feel is a culmination of all of the prior activities. I read "Simple Games for Teaching Sociological Perspectives: Four Examples of the Do-It-Yourself Approach" by Roger Straus and was very impressed with the design of these role playing games to illustrate sociological perspectives. Although the interactive games I previously posted are very well designed and teach similar ideals, the way these role playing games are designed allow for much more creative freedoms for the players.

The first game he discusses is a "Gender Reversal Game".  Here are the guidelines:

The Gender Reversal Game

1. On cue, all males in the class become
females, all females become males.

(The Gender Reversal Game has, since original
submission of this paper, been selected for publication in
the A.S.A.'s syllabi and teaching materials set for sex
and gender--Thorne, et al. 1985).
2. You are expected to act, talk, interact like a
person of the gender you have assumed. This
is to include body language, speech mannerisms,
interaction patterns, walk-EVERYTHING.

3. For about five minutes there will be a trial
period during which you are to practice
acting like the opposite sex. For these five
minutes you are to help one another get into
your new gender roles by coaching, modeling,
etc.

4. Everybody is expected to participate. Wallflowers
will be harassed by the instructor.

5. When the five minutes is over, you are to act
like a typical member of the opposite sex at a
Friday night party. This includes flirting,
dancing, doing all the things men and women
do at parties around here the way they
actually do them.

6. The primary goal of this exercise is to try
behaving like a member of the opposite sex
as realistically and as completely as possible,
to not only act but think and feel like one.

7. Therefore you are to monitor one another's
performance. If you spot any student who is
not doing a realistic job of acting your own
"natural" gender, you are to confront
him/her with what is being done incorrectly
(e.g., stance, talk, interaction) and she/he
gives you 10 credits.

8. A secondary goal of this exercise is to amass
credits, so try to catch people blowing their
role (or even see if you can trip them up)
Assignment: You are to turn in at our next
meeting a write-up including a) what it was
like for you, b) how you played your role, c)
how it felt, how you found yourself reacting,
d) any problems you had in taking the
opposite gender role, e) what you learned
from the experience, and f) anything else
worth mentioning.

I found this game very interesting for a few reasons.  First, the "gender roles" we have defined by society are changing-and in fact have changed drastically since this publication in 1986.  My thoughts on using such a game in the classroom would be to add a decade and give specific scenarios to re-enact.  In other words, behave like a member of the opposite sex in the 1950's in the scenario of "dinner table" or "date night" (men would be acting like women from the 1950s and women acting like men from the 1950s in those situations).  Of course the game could still be used as intended and ask them to take on modern day gender roles-but have the lines between men and women been blurred to the point of not knowing where that line is? For example, working moms weren't as common 20 to 60 years ago as they are today-so if you are acting like a modern day female at dinner time would you take on a different role than acting like a 1950s female? A 1950s female reenactment of dinner time may including the female putting the dinner she prepared on the table and asking how her husbands day was.  A modern day female reenactment of dinner time may include asking her stay at home husband what restaurant they are eating at. Although these two examples could occur in any decade-which decade is each scenario more prevalent in and would that effect the roles the game players choose. Will the students construct their roles differently if they are given a scenario and a decade?

I am a firm believer in the theory that if really want to learn about a person-their world view, character, values and so on-play a game with them for one hour. Although I don't have a classroom to really test out this particular variation of the game I believe that it would be a very valuable introductory activity for the class. Putting people outside of their comfort zones by asking them to pretend to be something they are not can really open up their eyes to their own stereotypes and labels of others. It can teach them a lot about their own world view as well as allow them to explore other views.

This activity could also be done in an online environment. A virtual room could be used where students create an avatar that fits the character they are supposed to play. Design elements on how they create their avatar can be considered the same way the "body language" element of the in person activity was to be considered. They could talk in a forum setting after being given a prompt about the activity and their interactions would follow the same guidelines as the in person activity but take longer to complete (a week as opposed to an hour).

I think this activity would be very beneficial to introducing the students to social injustice as well as inequality. It would also be beneficial to the instructor as it would provide a creative way to do a per-assessment on the students.

Give the article a read, it lists 3 other games that could be modified as well and provides the "goals" of each game/exercise.

Simple Games for Teaching Sociological Perspectives: Four Examples of the Do-It-Yourself Approach

Roger A. Straus

Teaching Sociology , Vol. 14, No. 2 (Apr., 1986), pp. 119-128

Published by: American Sociological Association

Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1317618

CEP 818: How Do I Love Thee:Modeling

When I think of social injustice and modeling, I thought of some games I recently found out about at the Meaningful Play conference I attended at MSU recently. I began looking at various websites (Games for Change) and found a few very powerful games that I decided best represent the idea of Modeling (combining abstract thinking with analogy and embodiment). If I were a game designer, I would create one to share with you!  Although I do feel I am a creative person, I believe that creating a true model of a game to illustrate social injustice topics would take me years!  So I have picked a few games to share that I believe would really reinforce my topic well.

!) A Closed World

Play game online here

This information was shared on Games for Change Website about this game:

"Like most game prototypes created by the students at the GAMBIT Game Lab, A Closed World was designed to explore and research different aspects of games, in this case, the lack of compelling video game content for LGBTQ youth (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer).
A Closed World takes the gameplay aesthetics and mechanics of “JRPGs” (Japanese role playing games) and puts you in control of a character of ambiguous gender that begins exploring a forest on the edge of town. Disregarding rumors of “demons” that exist in the forest who have the ability to “destroy” your village, your character must overcome the hardships of a forbidden relationship by exploring what lies inside the forest. Through this journey, players battle the forest’s “demons” and the ideals they are trying to force upon them. The players’ only defense is their logic, passion, ethics, and the ability to remain calm during conflict. As “demons” attack with their beliefs, they must fight back and defy their ideas of what’s “normal” and what love is supposed to look like."

Here is a trailer to the game if you don't want to play it right now. 




While playing this game (self-disclosure I do not identify as being an LGTB person but I did feel a small amount of the pain and suffering one would feel confronting issues of discrimination, stereotyping, etc. presenting in the game).  The emotional responses I had confronting the demons in the game actually surprised me. Having the demons degrade me, put me down and experiencing them as being 5 times larger than my character really put things into perspective for me on the topic of social inequalities. I felt as though this is an excellent game to use in the classroom or as homework even to generate discussion on the societal views of LGTB people and perhaps even evoke discussion regarding the local communities treatment of, policies that support or discriminate against LGTB people.

2) The Curfew

Play the game online here

This information is shared on the Games for Change website:

"The Curfew is an online interactive drama created by Littleloud, published by Channel 4 and written by comic book author, Kieron Gillen. The Curfew addresses a range of political themes targeted at young people, challenging them to examine the freedoms they currently enjoy and the potential consequences if they do not protect them.
The story starts as the player receives important data from a mysterious contact. The contact persuades the player to pass on the data to somebody who will use it to bring down the out of control government. The player proceeds to a safe house where they meet 4 Sub-citizens who are avoiding curfew. Each Citizen has a different story and reason for being in the house that night.
Over four Episodes, the player will play through the flashbacks of the four characters: Lucas the boy, Aisha the immigrant, Leah the dissident and Saul the ex cop. By exploring the interactive 3D environments, conversing with characters, playing mini games and solving puzzles the player will progress through the game. There are 3 scenes in each episode and each scene is followed by an interactive questioning round back at the safe house. The player can question the character on the action they have just experienced and will either receive or lose the character’s trust depending on the questioning tactics they employ. These sequences will decide which character ending they will receive. The Curfew includes a range of digital techniques including 3D sets, dynamic composition and seamlessly integrated live action footage"

 Here is the trailer to the game if you don't want to play it right now: 



With all the current events about the United States becoming more of a police state (drones, the Patriot Act, recent legislation allowing the government to read your emails, etc.) I believe this game illustrates many sociological topics-freedom, social injustice, etc.  Again, playing this game in class or as homework can really allow a discussion about this topic to be facilitated through experiences. When I played this game, I could see how my choices really effected the outcome of the story. However, since this game used videos of "real people" instead of just computer animated characters it humanized the experience a little more for me.

I think that both of these games allow the student to have an emotional experience with these topics and model the situations others face daily when they deal with them. Since my topic is not math, science or subject matter that is always "definitive" it is a different process for me to model the material. When a student simply reads a chapter about discrimination or authoritarian control and is able to recite the theories involved, he or she has learned information. However, when a student plays a game they are able to put those theories into practice and see the results of their choices immediately. While both of them games have scripts and don't allow for complete free thinking, they do model typical responses that the average person would most likely take. Enabling the student to still have choices over how they play the game is an example of our everyday real world experiences that shape sociological theories and norms.

These two games are just an example of the games on Games for Change's website. They have dozens of other choices that teach important lessons (hence the web site's name) and I encourage you to visit their site. 

CEP 818: How Do I Love Thee: Embodied Thinking

Since my topic of social injustice or inequality involves emotion-and embodied thinking incorporates our emotional impulses as much as body movement itself- I became fixated on the emotional side of embodied thinking. I thought about my past educational experiences (most of my undergraduate studies were in psychology and sociology) and came upon one particular experiment that I felt illustrated the embodied thinking of social inequality the best: Jane Elliot's Blue-Eyed/Brown-Eyed experiment.

While an Institutional Review Board (IRB) may not be very fond of one conducting this experiment the way Dr. Elliot did, I think it is possible to incorporate this experiment (briefly) into a lesson plan even by just showing the PBS special created about it rather than conduct the actual experiment itself. PBS's website even has a Teacher's Guide which states: "A Class Divided is an encore presentation of the classic documentary on third-grade teacher Jane Elliott's "blue eyes/brown eyes" exercise, originally conducted in the days following the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. This guide is designed to help you use the film to engage students in reflection and dialogue about the historical role of racism in the United States, as well as the role of prejudice and stereotyping in students' lives today. Because the film deals with racism and prejudice, it may raise deep emotions for both you and your students. Some students may be confronted with privilege for the first time while others may see an affirmation of a lifetime of discrimination. As you see in the film, frustration, anger, and pain are not uncommon responses to being confronted with bias and inequity. To prepare yourself, plan to spend some time viewing and reflecting on the film by yourself or with trusted colleagues, family, or friends before bringing it in the classroom. That way you won't be processing your own raw emotions while also trying to help students deal with their own potentially intense reactions."

John Stossel even discussed this experiment along with other stereotypes at one time here:







The most interesting part of John Stossels coverage (to me) is when Dr. Elliot reenacts this experiment years later with students who KNOW its an experiment and yet it still invokes strong emotions in them-tears, anger, frustration, etc. This is something these students will never forget as an experience-and their entire bodies reacted to it. The research subjects empathized with the subject matter and felt the emotions for themselves. It was a compelling experience and it taught them very valuable lessons about stereotyping, social inequality and social injustice in an atypical format.

Another example of embodied thinking as it relates to social justice would be protesting. "Standing together" to protest something you feel is an injustice is allowing your body to speak for your mind on a topic. History has shown us time after time instances where people physically protest (picket lines, chaining themselves to trees, forming human chains, etc.) to send their message to others (government, unions, societies, corporations, etc.).  "Standing up" for something you believe in is a physical expression of belief as much as it is a figurative explanation of actions.  I teach my own children that if you see people bullying others or if they are bullying you, that you should stand up to them and calmly express to them that what they are doing is wrong. "Standing up" against social injustices or social inequalities is a large part of social activism. 

littleBits Lesson Plan

littleBits Can Give Us Big Ideas

Content

This lesson is being designed for elementary age students (K-6).

What’s the big idea?

Teaching circuitry to any age is simplified by using the littleBits technology. The color coding, magnets and instructional videos provide the basic components of this lesson.

It can be difficult to teach the correct pattern necessary to complete electrical circuits without hands on lessons. By providing color coded pieces it helps the students to identify the components: power, input, output and wires. The magnets help the students learn the correct ends to snap together because you cannot connect them incorrectly. This is an assistive technology because it guides the learner to the correct circuit path.

For kindergarteners, the GLCEs state:

Kindergarten students will be guided in the process of scientific inquiry through purposeful observations, raising questions, as well as making sense of their observations, investigations, meaning-making practices, and demonstrating their understanding through various activities.

For elementary grades the GLCEs state:

K-7 Standard P.EN: Develop an understanding that there are many forms of energy (such as heat, light, sound, and electrical) and that energy is transferable by convection, conduction, or radiation. Understand energy can be in motion, called kinetic; or it can be stored, called potential. Develop an understanding that as temperature increases, more energy is added to a system. Understand nuclear reactions in the sun produce light and heat for the Earth. P.EN.E.1 Forms of Energy- Heat, electricity, light, and sound are forms of energy. P.EN.03.11 Identify light and sound as forms of energy. P.EN.E.3 Sound- Vibrating objects produce sound. The pitch of sound varies by changing the rate of vibration. P.EN.03.31 Relate sounds to their sources of vibrations.

Many of the above standards are met through this lesson plan.

Essential Questions

•  How do you create a basic electrical circuit?
•  What can you create using a complete circuit and everyday household objects?
•  What happens when you try to put the wrong circuitry together?
•  Examine the various bits: button, vibrating motor, RGB light, LED light, etc. 
• What are your observations about what functions they perform? 
• If you connect a dimmer bit to the light bit, what does it do? 
• If you connect the dimmer bit to the vibrating motor bit, what does it do?

Pedagogy:

This lesson is done as a project based constructivist activity. The learners will be allowed some flexibility in what they choose to create and will be constructing their own “problems” to solve during the process (i.e. if the bits don’t fit together, if the bits don’t function the way they thought they would, etc). The group of learners will conduct hands on experiments to create their final project(s). The activity is learner directed but will involve the learners having access to instructional videos regarding possible projects and troubleshooting. Additionally, this lesson is “programmed instruction” (behaviorist theory) providing immediate results to the trial and error of sequencing the littleBits into circuits.

Content & Pedagogy:

Since much of the content is based on trial and error as well as observation, hands on approaches are necessary to adequately convey the material. Allowing the students the hands on experimentation provides the student with scaffolding necessary to fully convey the scientific process and trial and error results. Allowing the learners to get a basic understanding of the circuitry and creative ideas others have come up with assists the learner in getting started in the process. Showing the students just the videos or even diagrams illustrating the circuits does not allow them to attempt various configurations based on their own observations. A student may ask “what if” and attempt the scenario on their own if the bits are in front of them, but that level of inquiry may not occur based on viewing the material alone.

Technology:

It would be impossible to teach this lesson on the same level without the littleBits. While this lesson could be taught using other electronic circuit boards, it would require more instructor guidance without the color coding and magnets. While students could still create projects using other circuit boards, having the guidance provided with the features of this technology allows the student to focus on the concepts of completing a circuit and then creating something functional with the completed circuit. This is a content specific technology that exists in other forms or brands but does not function exactly the same as the others and is more assistive.

Technology & Pedagogy:

This technology is designed to assist the learner with color coding and magnets which allows the user to focus more on the path of the circuits and the creativity of their end product. The programmed instruction strategy provides the learner with immediate results when assembling the correct or incorrect circuits. Then the learner creates the project that will incorporate the circuit (using household objects like paper, scissors, glue, etc.) The final end product provides the learner with the immediate positive reinforcement of having an understanding of circuitry, group collaboration and creative development. Constructing a “problem and solution” using hands on experimentation allows the learners to explore various scenarios regarding the subject matter in a collaboration.

Technology & Content:

How does your choice of technology help you teach the "big ideas" and address the essential questions underlying the concept your lesson addresses? The technology chosen allows the learner to perform a hands on experiment on their own terms with basic guidance necessary to formulate the hypothesis and tests. This technology also affords learners the opportunity to develop their conceptual understanding of circuitry and making on a deeper level than observation alone.

Assessment:

Assessment will be performed with the following guidelines:

• Did the students complete a circuit?
• Did the students use the completed circuit to create another object with functioning components?
• Can the students explain how their project functions? 
• Does the project display creative elements of design?

Students will observe 1-3 videos on the littleBits website showing projects that have been created by other users. Students will then be given 14 littleBits with explanations on the color coding and magnets. Students will then be given household and craft items (paper, glue, scissors, markers, paints, etc.). Students will be instructed to create a circuit (or two, or three) and use their creations to make something (piggy bank, confetti shooter, etc.) functional with the circuits. Students will have 2 hours to complete this task but it is estimated that depending on the level of the project this lesson could be completed in as little as 30 minutes or as long as several days.

www.littlebits.cc

CEP 818: How Do I Love Thee: Abstracting

How do you abstract social injustice or inequality? Cartoonist often present current events related to social injustice or inequality in their work. For example:

Photographers often capture dramatic examples of social injustices or inequalities due to current or staged events:

 Peaceful Protesting Above.Typically in a peaceful protest, you don't see the participants being pepper sprayed. The officer was later reprimanded for his actions. In the photo, it is easy to see people holding up cell phones and recording the injustice.

 A depiction of a societal view that the poor suffer due to socially constructed economical differences between the rich (zombies) and the poor.

A depiction of a shopper walking by a poor man showing, once again, the gap between the "haves" and the "have nots." In this photo, I believe it is an abstract depiction of the subject matter because the viewer of this photo could "see" different things by observing. One might not necessarily only draw the conclusion of social inequality by looking at it. One may see it as -- a "problem" of homelessness in the urban areas. One could also see it as the two people in the photo not noticing each other because they are so different (gap).

In a previous module I also gave an example of social injustice in a poem (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings). So how do I abstractly depict my subject matter differently in this module?

Social Inequality on Prezi

X marks the spot!! Considering that with abstracting and analogies we are looking at two topics that are seemingly unrelated (a treasure map and social inequality based on traits at birth i.e. gender, ethnicity, etc.) I thought about how much our birth traits effect our social position in life. In this treasure map, the X for the treasure is located on the map with a Caucasian male. Caucasian males have an advantage to other ethnicities and females of any ethnic background here in the United States. I wanted the student to see that by certain birth traits we are closer to success or at the very least access to certain things-education, health care, etc. That led me to creating the info graphic below:


easel.ly
I created this infographic but I'm not sure it is actually "abstracting" the subject matter.  If you are able to look at the infographic and determine based on picture alone what it is I am depicting it is obvious.  However, the idea of an infographic to depict social disparities is not commonplace. Infographics are usually used to visually represent data.  While I didn't use actual data in the above infographic, I was illustrating the concept of the disparities visually. I intentionally made the graphics on the right (heart, building, house) somewhat opaque to illustrate that those things are less accessible to those that are "poor."

Much of our access to education, health care and "wealth" can be determined by where are born (developed or undeveloped nation), our gender, our "race", ethnicity, and the socio-economic status of our parents. Sure, we could achieve upward mobility-for women the easiest way to do so is by "marrying up".  However, I wanted to student to think about how if they had been born another gender, race, in a different place in the world---how much would their lives be different and would they have taken a different path?

Between the cartoons, photos, presentation and infographic I believe I have shown multiple representations of social inequality and/or social injustice. However, I do think there would be many other ways to abstract my topic and hope to develop more in the near future.

(All photos above were licensed by Creative Commons for resuse except for the infographic which I designed using easel.ly and of course the prezi that I created which used "pre-approved" prezi photos from Google Images ).