K-12 Outreach

I believe that science and math learning can be enhanced through the use of computers and appropriate open source software. Introducing children to computer technology should be much more than just surfing the Web and learning document processing and spreadsheet tools. A computer can be a marvelous tool for teaching concepts in science and mathematics. One common approach is to use the computer for real-world (or imaginary-world) simulations. These simulations can be made very visual through the use of computer graphics and can be driven by age-appropriate mathematics. By incorporating graphical user interaction into these simulations, we let students change parameters and thereby encourage the important "what if" questions.

One open source software tool that I recommend for enhancing science and math learning for younger students (elementary-middle school) is called Squeak (another similar tool is Scratch). Together with Katie Browning, Director of the Girl Scout Math and Science Center (Indianapolis), I delivered a poster presentation about Squeak for the ITAP Teaching and Learning with Technology conference at Purdue in Feb 2005. I have also presented several workshops at various after-school centers (below).

sym-nature.pdf

Workshops at the Indy Girl Scout Math & Science Center

In spite of the snowy, blustery weather, we had a packed house and LOTS of fun at our first (March '05) Girl Scout workshop learning Squeak. For the main project, each pair of girls created their own "critter" and then programmed the critter to have particular behaviors. The primary behavior/goal was to have a critter successfully follow a trail of "food". (NOTE: No critters were harmed in the making of this workshop). Our lab followed up with other workshops, also held at the Math & Science Center in Nov, Dec '05; Jan, Feb, Mar, Oct '06; Jan, Mar '07.

Presentation at Squeakfest '05

I presented a mathematical modeling education project aimed at middle/high school students at the annual Squeakland conference in 2005.

download | play in browser(*-Note1) - Squeak project for mathematical modeling in nature (~5M)

You can hear presentations of Alan Kay (as well as read various presentations).

Workshops at Girls Incorporated® of Indianapolis

The SDA Lab began volunteering for once-a-week after-school computer workshops in the Girls Inc.® She's Techknow! program in fall 2005 and continuing in 2006.

Supercomputing '05 Education Program

I created a module for the K-12 Education Program at the Supercomputing 2005 conference. The module was entitled Introduction to Distributed Computing. It consisted of a Powerpoint presentation, a more extensive Flash presentation (with audio), and included a hands-on simulation using Squeak.