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Dec. 7th, 2007 12:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crankyoldman+ It snowed. I hate snow. I am not built for winter.
+ If you haven't hit it up, requestify an EP. Gifts!
+ My other blog thingie is going poof in a couple days, so if you've got the feed friended, lose it. XD Nothing dramatic happened, and I may start up something similar again. I'm just lazy right now.
+ Oh, and Happy Birthday![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nashidesei!
Alright, despite a lot of other things I've done at work, I'm a bit tripped up today.
When you're a "designer" despite the fact that some of the work is handed out to people, you have to pretty much outline EVERYTHING. Because it's your "vision". The people you work with on it will let you know if your vision sucks and is impossible to carry out. So, the past two weeks has been a lot of back and forth, kind of like this:
Me: Alright, sent the latest iteration of the design doc.
Me: *waits a few hours*
Andrew: Hey, I just talked to VH, they said [insert five billion changes]
Me: Ok... they do realize that will kill half the learning objectives?
Andrew: Alright, I'll have them call you.
So, I've been on IM, and various conference calls on and off during this week. It's kind of exciting, because we're actually getting to the making something part. Just to give you a timescale? The project started when I was hired. Which was in May. Yeah.
Today, though, the issue is not having to change too much. I'm working on the stuff we're doing in house (flash-based, we've got some flash WIZARDS around here, and I get to play with their games and stuff. XD) which basically means that other than a possible, "uh, flash doesn't do that, dummy" I'm in 100% control of the current content and appearance. I wasn't supposed to do the mockups before, but I had down time and Omnigraffle, and it's mostly just fake control panel stuff.
Anyway, I've had to adjust a few of my problems. One because of scripting, but the others because I'd only had a general idea of how they were supposed to work. We're into the nitty gritty actual lessons thing here.
Generally, I'm working with:
- A trajectory problem (which is completely done and figured out--I'm a dynamics and controls minor in Aero, it was a point of pride, really)
- A volumes and resource management puzzle (I need to have a believable way for the "computer" to not know the answer and force the kids to do a little fraction math A "safety feature" that requires human control works just fine for this, considering it's LIFE SUPPORT related)
- My nuclear reactor problem (which is mostly decision making and reading charts--it's the problem that got us the next part of the grant, ironically)
- A rates and fuel problem
Just writing that out helped a little. XD But I really understand you see the same five problems in teacher packets on these subject areas--it's really kind of hard to create something that doesn't insult children's intelligences and isn't impossible. Especially considering the huge ass paper I just wrote about "failure as a better means of learning" I sort of have to live up to my claims (I do a ridiculous amount of writing for work). The goal is to teach the kinds of things in the sciences that aren't typically touched on in traditional schooling.
I mean, think about how you learned in school for a moment. Most of it was based (and in some cases, STILL) on memorization, correct? Oh, and it isn't just the sciences that are starting to question this.
Now, what do most people in the sciences and engineering and all that good stuff do? They look up the specifics, but understand the problem. I'm rambling a little here, but that is how I'm designing most of the problems. That your "computer" will know your constants, and even your equations--but it's up to you to put them together in a way that solves your needs.
Am I making sense?
I can see why it's not catching on as much as the good old book-and-lecture style of teaching. It's hard. It requires the educator (or educational designer) to think critically about the nature of problem solving itself! It gets even harder when you've gotten to the point in your own education in which it's become second nature (I always write "Givens", "Unknowns", "Basic Equations" down, sometimes not labeled, before I attempt most any problem these days).
Not that memorization is bad. I can't tell you how thankful I am for having memorized my multiplication tables and STILL manage to remember them. But there's already tons of resources out there on memorization.
Ok, enough thinking out loud. Time to figure out the rules on this next module.
~Cendri
+ If you haven't hit it up, requestify an EP. Gifts!
+ My other blog thingie is going poof in a couple days, so if you've got the feed friended, lose it. XD Nothing dramatic happened, and I may start up something similar again. I'm just lazy right now.
+ Oh, and Happy Birthday
nashidesei!Alright, despite a lot of other things I've done at work, I'm a bit tripped up today.
When you're a "designer" despite the fact that some of the work is handed out to people, you have to pretty much outline EVERYTHING. Because it's your "vision". The people you work with on it will let you know if your vision sucks and is impossible to carry out. So, the past two weeks has been a lot of back and forth, kind of like this:
Me: Alright, sent the latest iteration of the design doc.
Me: *waits a few hours*
Andrew: Hey, I just talked to VH, they said [insert five billion changes]
Me: Ok... they do realize that will kill half the learning objectives?
Andrew: Alright, I'll have them call you.
So, I've been on IM, and various conference calls on and off during this week. It's kind of exciting, because we're actually getting to the making something part. Just to give you a timescale? The project started when I was hired. Which was in May. Yeah.
Today, though, the issue is not having to change too much. I'm working on the stuff we're doing in house (flash-based, we've got some flash WIZARDS around here, and I get to play with their games and stuff. XD) which basically means that other than a possible, "uh, flash doesn't do that, dummy" I'm in 100% control of the current content and appearance. I wasn't supposed to do the mockups before, but I had down time and Omnigraffle, and it's mostly just fake control panel stuff.
Anyway, I've had to adjust a few of my problems. One because of scripting, but the others because I'd only had a general idea of how they were supposed to work. We're into the nitty gritty actual lessons thing here.
Generally, I'm working with:
- A trajectory problem (which is completely done and figured out--I'm a dynamics and controls minor in Aero, it was a point of pride, really)
- A volumes and resource management puzzle (
- My nuclear reactor problem (which is mostly decision making and reading charts--it's the problem that got us the next part of the grant, ironically)
- A rates and fuel problem
Just writing that out helped a little. XD But I really understand you see the same five problems in teacher packets on these subject areas--it's really kind of hard to create something that doesn't insult children's intelligences and isn't impossible. Especially considering the huge ass paper I just wrote about "failure as a better means of learning" I sort of have to live up to my claims (I do a ridiculous amount of writing for work). The goal is to teach the kinds of things in the sciences that aren't typically touched on in traditional schooling.
I mean, think about how you learned in school for a moment. Most of it was based (and in some cases, STILL) on memorization, correct? Oh, and it isn't just the sciences that are starting to question this.
Now, what do most people in the sciences and engineering and all that good stuff do? They look up the specifics, but understand the problem. I'm rambling a little here, but that is how I'm designing most of the problems. That your "computer" will know your constants, and even your equations--but it's up to you to put them together in a way that solves your needs.
Am I making sense?
I can see why it's not catching on as much as the good old book-and-lecture style of teaching. It's hard. It requires the educator (or educational designer) to think critically about the nature of problem solving itself! It gets even harder when you've gotten to the point in your own education in which it's become second nature (I always write "Givens", "Unknowns", "Basic Equations" down, sometimes not labeled, before I attempt most any problem these days).
Not that memorization is bad. I can't tell you how thankful I am for having memorized my multiplication tables and STILL manage to remember them. But there's already tons of resources out there on memorization.
Ok, enough thinking out loud. Time to figure out the rules on this next module.
~Cendri
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-07 06:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-07 07:00 pm (UTC)My math classes require me to memorize equations, but none of my hardkore engineering classes do--they require us to write up an equation sheet on our own, which forces us to consider what resources we have (though I usually type mine unless they specifically tell me I have to hand write it, because my handwriting sucks unless it's huge).
I'm bad at memorization. The only reason I did so well in my history classes was a) the professor liked me and my best friend and b) they were essay questions, which despite not having any good dates written with it, I do remember the broader events.
It really bothers me that high schools especially put so much stock in memorization. Those kids are going to go into the workforce and college not knowing WHY they had to remember all that crap.
~Cendri
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-07 07:13 pm (UTC)Counter that with the classes I'm in now - "raw" sciences - where I'm basically spending every day this weekend cramming tiny details into my head and hoping that I remember them on the finals Mon and Wed. I'm very tired of having to remember "-80 C in THF for reactions that need polar solvents" and shit like that. >.>
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-07 07:16 pm (UTC)And yes, I ADORE the one-sheet method, except when I put off writing said sheet and am scribbling down parts as they're passing out the exam (did that once, oddly passed, never wanted to do that again).
~Cendri
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-08 02:35 am (UTC)It makes me really, really sad.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-07 07:22 pm (UTC)It always drove my mother insane when one of our literature test or history for that matter questions included pulling out random facts from the story than what the story was actually about.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-08 03:44 am (UTC)