Posted on

A Digital Christmas Card 2018


Merry Christmas to the best friend in the world. I’m wishing you joy and blessings this Christmas. This is a digital Christmas card from me. Many thanks.

Recently I finished one of edX courses, Scratch: Programming for Teachers. I wrote before why I started learning programming and what programming language I am interested in.

After this lecture, I would like to plan two types of courses. One is the course to deal with programming in Scratch with an inspiring and clear way for the children who learn programming first time. And second one is to make the digital greeting card using Scratch for adults.

Therefore, I create one of the examples as a digital Christmas card. Scratch has various possibilities not only greeting cards but also quizzes, games and stories. I would like to continue exploring these possibilities and offering of courses.

Posted on

Alvar Aalto – Second Nature

I visited The Museum of Modern Art, Hayama to see Alvar Aalto Exhibitions on Friday. Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) was a leading Finnish architect of the twentieth century. This exhibition is planned by Vitra Design Museum and Alvar Aalto Museum and touring the world.

We are able to see both detailed drafts and artful works. He utilized natural materials and light for his architectures. Functional, standardized and flexible works such as apartment house and mass-oriented products were introduced as well. A film about transition of Finnish history and industry were screened in one corner.

In this exhibition, I had two discoveries. The first one was a method of softly bending solid wood trees. Stool 60 was made by innovative way to bent L shaped leg and patented in 1933. Here is the video.

The second one was his initiative itself. When I saw the manifest of Artek, my heart was extremely moved. Artek was a company founded in Helsinki in 1935 by four young idealists: Alvar and Aino Aalto, Maire Gullichsen, and Nils-Gustav Hahl. The name Artek is a synthesis of “art” and ‘technology’ – concepts central to the international modernist movement that came to prominence in the 1920s. Their goal of Artek was “to sell furniture and to promote a modern culture of living by exhibitions and other educational means”(Artek web site) . Here is the manifest, scroll down the web page and we can select manifest. This was a conceptual diagram of the company that art, design, and propaganda were closely connected, aiming for global activities while collaborating with some organizations. I could not believe that was conceived in 1935.

Hayama is a peaceful place I can return myself. This day I had a day-off and thought about myself in front of the sea. “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get until you open it up.” This is the quote from 1994 film Forrest Gump. I am excited about the future I do not know what will happen. It was mild cloudy and sometimes the sun was peeping at her face.

Photography: invisible-hand

References

Posted on

Why Programming?

In today’s digital world, coding becomes an important skill. I have joined MIT’s online community Learning Creative Learning (LCL) since this October, and I was interested in Scratch that is one of the programming languages. As I wanted to learn Scratch deeply, I began to take the edX online course, Scratch: Programming for Teachers. The objectives of this course are learning how to deal with programming in Scratch, broadening programming concepts, and discussing strategies/approaches for teaching. I am not a teacher but a parent and a person interested in STEAM. It is suitable for me because I want to learn Scratch itself and acquire the skills to deliver this attractive tool to children and adults.

What is programming?
At first, the lecturer of this course mentioned when we talk about programming education, one of the biggest questions is what is programming. It is a deep question but a basic answer is programming is getting a computer to do something. As digitalization advances, programming becomes more important.

Why do all children need to know programming?
This lecture taught me three reasons why programming is so important. The first reason is job markets are expanding in a few years and we might need more programmers because of the software importance. The second reason is to understand the world trends. There are lots of software related News. The third reason is programming is creative. We can self-express by programming. Childhood is a great time to start programming and develop computational thinking, creativity and problem solving.

What programming language should I use?
There are lot of languages like HTML, CSS, javascript, PHP, Python and so on. One of the benefits of Scratch is we can set our own language because research has shown that children learn better in their own language. Another benefit is we need not install anything. We just connect internet and sign in Scratch page. The third benefit is Scratch includes blocks right there. We need not memorize and search the code itself. It looks too easy and childish as we can just move the cat but it is a real and powerful programming language.

I have some opportunities to learn Scratch recently and I enjoy, explore, tinker, and reflect with peers. I would like to combine with other hardware and and apply it.


My recent Scratch project: Cant’t wait Christmas (DelftX: ScratchTENGX Week2 Homework) Coding kids decorate a Christmas tree. Using programming concept: Timing, different look.

References

  • DelftX: ScratchTENGX. Scratch: Programming for Teachers. Week1. Week2.
  • Hill, B. (2017). Learning to Code in One’s Own Language. Retrieved from https://mako.cc/copyrighteous/scratch-localization-and-learning

Posted on

Learning Creative Learning

Five weeks have passed since I joined Learning Creative Learning or LCL which is online community organized by the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab. Today, I think what is so special about the kindergarten approach to learning? Why do I think it is a good model for learners of all ages?

Remember your kindergarten activity
At the time of kindergarten, I imagined fantastic stories, played with sands, made mountains, dug tunnels and collaborated with friends. When the mountain collapsed, the teacher or parent came over and encouraged us. They showed or advised the importance of foundation and the children could notice to solidify the foundation using water. Based on these experiences going through the spiral, the children could imagined the new ideas and new directions. LCL defines these processes as the Creative Learning Spiral.

The Creative Learning Spiral
The Creative Learning Spiral is the creative process as kindergarten children play with blocks, build castles, and tell stories (Resnick, 2017). It is the engine of creative thinking. After kindergarten, most people shift away from the Creative Learning Spiral. Students spend much time for sitting at desk, filling out worksheet, and just listening to lectures. I may have forgotten this spiral since childhood. However I revived this spiral again after joining LCL community. Interestingly, my 8 years old daughter is faster to create something than me. She made some creatures with blocks/crews, sewed the clothes for dolls, and made scratch projects during I was thinking. It was one of discoveries through LCL.


The Creative Learning Spiral
(Resnick, 2017. Lifelong Kindergarten. p11.)

Creative learning framework: Four P’s
In the LCL community, we learned the creative learning spiral and big ideas of creative learning including four P’s. Four P’s, a framework for creative learning, means Projects, Passion, Peers and Play. We focused on the one P’s in a week, learned the concept by watching videos and reading articles/books, moved hands and made things, shared the ideas and discussed in the community.

Learning Creative four P’s

  • Projects: We focus on learning through making, and reflect on the creative process through Creative Learning Spiral.
  • Passion: We explore motivation in learning, along with strategies to engage people in meaningful experiences.
  • Peers: We focus on learning social activity. We explore remixing and support people connecting to each other to share ideas, collaborate on projects, and build on one another’s work.
  • Play: We playfully explore Play. We discuss different types of paly, provide opportunities for tinkering, and share strategies to promote a playful approach to learning.

    • (LCL Website)

Through weekly activities, I made two Scratch projects and my daughter also made her projects. Scratch is guided by these four P’s of creative learning.

Sierpingski gasket
A rotating snow-girl draws Sierpinski gasket.Please enjoy with a Christmas song.

Santa gathers stars
This is the game. You are a Santa. Let’s save stars avoiding Christmas trees and snowmen. If Santa touch a Christmas tree and a snowman, the game is over.

I wrote about my childhood toys before. I introduced my favorite plastic models. Now I found playing with plastic models or any other existing toys were like playing in a playpen. There are only fixed and limited manuals/rules. These processes are much more efficient, however less creativity and agility. According to Resnick (2017), Danish has two different words for play. The word spille is used to describe the types of play that have a defined structure and sets of rules, like playing sports or playing a video game, whereas the word lege is used to describe play that is imaginative and open-ended, without an explicit goal. It seems appropriate that the Danish toy company is named LEGO, a contraction of lege with godt, meaning play well. In our surroundings, I feel there are so many things as a playpen. These are also existed in trendy programming and robot making curricula because these only provide the way people traces the codes that were taught. Do we image fantasy? Do we create, play, share and reflect? If we do not and just proceed with manuals/rules, it can not cultivate creative learning. I would like to enjoy the way what I did in the kindergarten. I think the kindergarten approach is a good model for all ages learners.

References

  • Resnick, M. (2017). Lifelong Kindergarten. Cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play. The MIT Press.
  • LCL Website. Retrieved from https://learn.media.mit.edu/lcl/
Posted on

The power of design – Message form Finland

The last session of Nordic studies was held on October 14th at Freedom University in Omotesando, Tokyo. The guest speakers were Samuli Helavuo and Elina Aalto. Samuli san is a Finnish designer and Elina san manages design office Aalto+Aalto with her husband in Helsinki. The main topic was the meaning and the role of design. We heard futuristic and influential stories that design brings.

The goal was to make the topic easy to approach

Samuli Helavuo is mainly focused on product design, but also works with art and interior architectural projects. He is interested in functional design combined with aesthetic pleasure (JFDA website, 2018). He has various fields of experience, he learned business school, worked in the sales and marketing field, travelled 7 month, then got a bachelor degree in Art and Design. Now he is working as a freelance designer while enrolled in the master’s degree at the Department of Art Design and Architecture at Aalto University. He designed “Edit” that was Edit shelf, space divider and cloth rack for Finnish design brand Hakola. It could easy to assemble and named for Editing the life. I consider that the way to his designer is based on the Finnish education system that can motivate and rework as much as possible.

The product I received the most impression is “Pupa”. While working on design, he became interested in what the world is going on in future. Pupa is the final design in his bachelor thesis named “Insects as Human Food”. According to Food and Agriculture organization of the United Nations or FAO, trends towards 2050 predict a steady population increase to 9 billion people, forcing an increased food/feed output available agro-ecosystems resulting in an even greater pressure on the environment (FAO website, 2018). He focuses on insects for food that is one of the protein supplies when people will try to reduce meals and take more vegetables. Pupa is a ceramic container with wooden rid design for rearing giant mealworms. He described the goal was to make the topic easy to approach (Helavuo website, 2018). He changed the difficult topics to be empathize through designing. He keeps balance within his identity by doing two wheels designing what he wants to do and contributing to the society through insects for food.

The power of design

Elina Aalto has three children and manages Aalto+Aalto with her husband, Klaus Aalto. Aalto+Aalto is a Helsinki-based design office working with products, spaces and exhibitions. Their aim is to create special everyday objects with a strong identity and story. Their special skill is managing to make things which are imaginative and different but still simple and timeless (JFDA website, 2018). “Vakka”, a wooden storage box for ittala, is one of the famous products they designed. When Japan Finland Design Association was reorganized in 2011, she became the executive head. Aalto+Aalto is skillful to incorporate playfulness into design and they also devoted to workshops for children. She considers the benefit for learning design from children is developing problem solving and creativity. When children face problems, they can consider by themselves how to change or overcome. Creativity is not the manufacturing itself, but it is indicated how to think and solve the problem. Products or expressions exist one of the solutions.

Through their stories, I felt Finland education system and social system affected their decision-making. Finland has a flat hierarchy between professors and students, bosses and subordinates, parents and children, and also men and women. There are lots of things that we need to improve in order to interact Finnish good ideas with Japanese culture. However I suppose designs and creativities are universal all over the world. On the first day of this session, Makoto Shimazaki (Professor Emeritus, Musashino University) said design was a mechanism to achieve objectives. I recognized making things was not a purpose but a solution. I want to look around the world with a broad perspective and identify issues to be struggled that seem to be my mission. I would like to add my own taste to footprint that our ancestors stacked up. We also need to leave heritages to our descendant sustaining our limited resources. We tend to suppose every time we can generate plan B but there is NO PLANET B.

I appreciated this precious opportunity learning Nordic studies and the new network creation.

Photography: invisible-hand

References

  • FAO. (2018). Edible insects. Future prospects for food and feed security. Food and Agriculture Organization. Retrieved from http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3253e/i3253e.pdf
  • Helavuo, S. (2018). Pupa. Retrieved from https://www.helavuo.com/blank
  • JFDA. (2018). Aalto + Aalto. Japan Finland Design Association. Retrieved from https://www.japanfinland.com/the-finance-pulse/
  • JFDA. (2018). Samuli Helavuo. Japan Finland Design Association. Retrieved from https://www.japanfinland.com/ethics-review/