Just a little peek at a WIP I've been putting time into.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Science Museum Excitement (sort of...)
Holy lack of progress, Batman! There've been no updates since the end of the semester!! Why, it's almost as if I haven't done any work since then...
The main reason for this, of course, is my awesome full-time job! I teach children's technology classes at the Learning Technology Center, part of the education department at the Science Museum of Minnesota.
We use several simple kid-friendly technologies from the MIT Media Lab, primarily PicoBlocks, and above all, Scratch. Scratch is a beautifully simple programming environment that uses visual code to build programs. LEGO-like blocks of different colors and shapes snap together to form scripts. It's deceivingly powerful for something so simple to use.
Recently, Lego introduced a product called the WeDo... and it works with Scratch! Now, a simple tilt sensor, distance sensor, and motor can be plugged into the USB port of any computer and used with Scratch to make amazing things!
Of course, I simply HAD to play with it. I checked one out, and built a silly little driving simulation with it. Silly chunky graphics and no challenge whatsoever. It's not a game, it's a simulation!
Keith Braafladt, head of the LTC, MCAD alumnus, and the person who taught me all about Scratch and PicoCrickets while I was at MCAD; thought it was great! It was just a bit of fun for me to make it, but he took it really seriously. He documented it and sent it on to the Scratch developers! Wow!
Here's Keith's blog post about my silly, stupid, fun little driving simulation.
Check it out! (end of self-indulgent ranting)
The main reason for this, of course, is my awesome full-time job! I teach children's technology classes at the Learning Technology Center, part of the education department at the Science Museum of Minnesota.
We use several simple kid-friendly technologies from the MIT Media Lab, primarily PicoBlocks, and above all, Scratch. Scratch is a beautifully simple programming environment that uses visual code to build programs. LEGO-like blocks of different colors and shapes snap together to form scripts. It's deceivingly powerful for something so simple to use.
Recently, Lego introduced a product called the WeDo... and it works with Scratch! Now, a simple tilt sensor, distance sensor, and motor can be plugged into the USB port of any computer and used with Scratch to make amazing things!
Of course, I simply HAD to play with it. I checked one out, and built a silly little driving simulation with it. Silly chunky graphics and no challenge whatsoever. It's not a game, it's a simulation!
Keith Braafladt, head of the LTC, MCAD alumnus, and the person who taught me all about Scratch and PicoCrickets while I was at MCAD; thought it was great! It was just a bit of fun for me to make it, but he took it really seriously. He documented it and sent it on to the Scratch developers! Wow!
Here's Keith's blog post about my silly, stupid, fun little driving simulation.
Check it out! (end of self-indulgent ranting)
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