Child to Adulthood: Creativity and Productivity, by Keith Sawyer

R. Keith Sawyer

http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~ksawyer/

As an undergraduate at MIT, Keith Sawyer often pulled out a new game from his pocket that he had invented.  Also, he enjoyed playing music, from classical to improvisational jazz.  These seemed like interesting hobbies, but it's amazing that his playtime turned into a productive professional career for him, greater than his college major!  He is now a productive author and professor in the area of "Cultivating Creativity."  Who knew that play would turn into profession?
------------------From his blog two days ago, Oct. 29, describing speakers he heard, I see many similarities with my own outlook:
"She [Shirley Brice Heath] talked about those people who’d done creative things in life, and what those same people had been like way back in childhood. The most important trait was courage, the decision to take an action and not worry about the risks. Yes, some of the children took unwise risks and got in trouble; but the ones who thrived looked at their community and looked for what needed to be done. Their creativity was rarely about making a product; instead, they created nonprofit and volunteer organizations and websites."
about Ellen Winner...
"The one she focused on was 'stretch/expand,' when teachers asked students things like 'How could you do this differently?' or 'Why don’t you try it with this other material?' What I love about this research is that it suggests we might try doing the same things in non-art classes–even in math, science, or engineering."
from http://keithsawyer.wordpress.com/2011/10/29/cultivating-creativity-2/
________________[S.M.:    This is exactly what I'm interested in--catching children while they're young enough to be willing to explore new areas of creativity, and use this to pull them in the direction of the STEM areas (learning math, science, and engineering; using technology).  Further,  Sawyer described my favorite teaching approach, constructivism, within a 2006 posting by Neil Schoenherr: ]
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Sawyer's QUOTE: "Most of the toys geared at children age six and younger are based on an educational theory known as constructivism," Sawyer says. "Constructivism is the idea that children create their own knowledge by actively participating in the learning process. Playing with toys — even something as simple as blocks — allows children to create their own play environment and stimulate their imagination."

Basically any kind of toy is good for young children as long as it is safe, of course, well-constructed and age appropriate, he says. "Parents can relax a little bit. There aren't really any bad toys or bad kinds of play. Because of my research on children's improvisation during fantasy play — which leads to all sorts of social and conversational advancement — I like to see pretend play that is more loosely structured and more improvisational."
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Video game systems have become popular for children of all ages and Sawyer says that they are not as bad as some parents might think. "Most of the research is actually pretty favorable for video games," Sawyer says. "The big difference between television and video games is that TV is passive while video games are active. While playing a video game, your child isn't physically interacting with what's on the screen, but his or her mind is very much engaged. Most video games are much better than watching television."
According to Sawyer, most research also shows that video games do not turn children into loners. "Games support a lot of social interaction between children. They tend to play video games with friends and when they are at school they brag about the highest level they've reached in a game."
The one down side to video games as far as creativity and improvisation are concerned, Sawyer maintains, is that video game worlds are much more constrained than reality. "If a child is playing a fantasy game with his friends, the options are unlimited. I think improvisation is very important for development. If a child was playing only video games he or she might lose the ability to improvise creatively."
---------------------end of selections from Neil Schoenherr article, "Finding educational toys is not hard; key is keeping child's age in mind" http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/4232.aspx, December 6, 2006
Just published by Cambridge University Press: Structure and Improvisation in Creative Teaching, edited by Keith Sawyer with a foreword by David Berliner.

Morphovision - twirling house: Toshio Iwai

A creative childhood
 led to a highly productive career
in art, video games and technology

This was an exhibit in the 2006 SIGGRAPH convention.  It was technologically far ahead of it's time, but originated in a child's flipbook sketches. Toshio Iwai, the media artist appears above (lower right).

At the actual exhibit, a tiny house twirled until images appeared.  It was controlled by a  touchscreen which gave the viewer math-related choices, such as sine waves, that would distort the twirling images. Here it is in motion! It was displayed in 2006, to show pioneering work on the development of 3D TV.  

"As a child, he spent time creating flip book-style animations in the corner of text books and making motor-driven mechanical toys, since these were the only technologies available to him." Toshio Iwai described how his childhood affected his later technological development work:

• "I've been longing for the feeling of my childhood in the digital world and that is why I've been sticking to relations among media, machine(s), and people through interactive works."[1]
• "All of my work begins with animation and never strays too far from it," he tells me. A simple flipbook animation fades in on his computer screen. "I started making these flipbooks when I was in about fourth grade," he explains, as a simple cartoon figure romps and morphs through its five-second life span. "This is one of the first ones. The margins of all my elementary school textbooks were filled with these. This is where my work begins. The excitement I got from making these animations has never disappeared - that and the fact that these are personal media, things you can carry around and look at alone."

By his own account, Iwai's childhood and schooling were normal. He was born in nearby Aichi Prefecture in 1962, the youngest of four children, and attended public schools. In true Japanese fashion, Iwai decided at age 10 on his adult occupation: animation and cartooning. Young Iwai also was beginning to acquire the sort of technical skills - basic electronics, soldering, et cetera - that would become the focus of his adult life. "My dad was kind of special in that he preferred to make toys with me rather than just buy me plastic models," Iwai says. "He was constantly making me electrically operated toys with motors and lights and moving parts, and he taught me how to make them as well. He gave me how-to books, tools, and materials. So, on the one hand, throughout elementary school I was trying to improve my flipbooks, and on the other, I was building radios and stuff. Eventually these two kinds of activity merged, and what I'm doing now is the natural result." [11]

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Video games and art...

"Iwai is the first internationally-recognized gallery artist also to have led the creation of several successful commercial video game projects. This cross-disciplinary ability typifies Iwai's career...

...But the work that took my breath away at that 1986 exhibition was Time Stratum II, a pair of large turntables spinning under transparent domes and illuminated by flickering TV monitors overhead. These turntables presented the viewer with swarms of 3-D figures - basically card-board cutouts - that seemed to rotate, dance, remove their heads, and otherwise transform themselves. The stroboscopic flickering of the monitors, the timing of the spinning disks, the spacing of the figures, and Iwai's soundtrack were all worked out with the utmost precision and were perfectly synchronized. The result was superb, unearthly animation. I watched it for 30 minutes or more and left thinking that Iwai, then 24, was a young artist with potential. How much potential, I scarcely suspected.

"Movement is still my greatest interest," says Iwai, sitting in the homey disarray of his studio at IAMAS. "I believe movement itself is a communicative language, and I'm trying to use it that way. If we see an interesting type of motion, say, a flock of birds turning in coordination, we often get involved in what it is that's moving - birds, in this case. But even if it were not birds, but just dots on a screen or something else equally abstract, we can still be totally engaged by it." And true, the desire that drives us to comprehend patterns of motion explains to a large degree the appeal of ballet, schools of fish, pinball machines, and swarms of ants. On a deeper level, our visual receptors are attuned to detect and analyze motion almost involuntarily - it's a basic part of our survival gear. And art that taps our fundamental survival instincts can play off our genetic code for raw animal power and adrenaline, even while we remain at a loss to explain our interest.[11]"

Games designed by Toshio Iwai

Otocky (1987; Famicom Disk System)

Sound Fantasy (canceled; Super Famicom)

SimTunes (1996, PC)

Bikkuri Mouse (びっくりマウス?) (2000, PlayStation 2)

Tenori-on (テノリオン?) (2001, WonderSwan)

Electroplankton (2005, Nintendo DS)

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from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshio_Iwai

[1] broken link Multimedia Content Association of Japan Multimedia Grand Prix'97 Winner's Profile 

[11] refers to "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Geek," by Azby Brown in Wired Magazine

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/5.05/ff_iwai_pr.html

Autism and the Digital Workshop (theory): Mary Hart

Mary Hart created the Computing Workshop for students with special needs.  One-on-one tutors work with age 8 and up students. Most have Aspberger's Syndrome, which conceals their brilliant intelligence with an unusual social appearance. Mary arranged activities to deal with these, including the instrumental use of digital technologies, centered on their favorite topics, as well as classes where the students discover standard social rules. Three photos and artwork by students:

Student photographed by student Z.

Mary Hart, photo by student Z.

Self-portrait in variations. Student Z.

Student J. with movie headline
 he quickly created:
"Bean, the Ultimate Disaster Movie."

In-process art by student J.: 1. hand drawing,
2. scanned, 3. partially digitally colored.

Crane by student J.

For seven years, I was a tutor in her summer workshops.  At the end of each session (usually six weeks) there was a grand presentation for everyone's family members and the public!  It included Powerpoints and web pages displaying pictures they'd taken, as well as often humorous captions; games designed, a virtual reality museum of dinosaurs, and many graphics and multimedia creations.

She aims to change lives for people who were blocked from technology and falsely funneled toward low-functioning employment, like janitor work. Here's her philosophy in her own words:  "Students on the autistic spectrum (currently, 1 in 150 births) and those with other cognitive and physical differences are being left out of educational opportunities in technology areas. Traditional educational settings do not easily accommodate students with uneven learning profiles. Students who exhibit difficulties in some areas but function at a high level in others (as is the case with many students with Autism) are often educated at the level of their lowest area of functioning. Students thus targeted for low level education will lack access to high level classes, particularly in areas such as computing and technology. Often, technology is actually a strength area for such students, who may or may not require adaptations to learn the content in a traditional classroom setting. Technology may also be an area of weakness for teaching staff. The “lack of access” problem is sometimes made worse when teaching staff assume that if they do not understand content in a technical area, the 'special education' student certainly could not. Being disenfranchised from educational opportunities in technology and other areas puts the student at a great disadvantage in terms of further education and employment. Many individuals who have the ability to learn in an appropriate environment, and who may even excel in technology-related areas, are thus relegated to low-skill employment, or even a lifetime of sub minimum wage sheltered workshop participation." See the whole document here: Digital Workshop: A Hybrid Educational Institution And Technology Based Workplace Designed to meet the needs of Students and Young Adults on the Autistic Spectrum With Other Cognitive Differences With Other Obstacles to Success in School and the Transition to Employment

Fun-loving Learners: What happens when they grow up?

Here are a few whimsical but true stories:
1. One choice--be a senior professor and author, as did Dr. S.K. Chang. Click on the top right photo on this page http://www.cs.pitt.edu/~chang/index.html (screen shot below). Dr. S.K. Chang is a well-respected international lecturer.  He is still having fun and including amusing  things in his teaching.  This made it very interesting and relaxing to take his graduate level class and inspired students to be very creative.

or 2. Grow up to be a Video Game Artist:
 from Art Jobs Home 

http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/jobs/video.html

or 3. Be paid to test games, looking for "bugs" - problems that will bother later customers:

Rationale for Educational Video Game

This was written years ago, but still holds true:

.  from the beginning of my masters' thesis in math education.

Three Levels of Interfaces

Describing a Funfunctions game, creating roadways:

1. There would be 3 levels shown to users (Interfaces): top-down Maps, Drawing in 3D, and Virtual Reality walkthroughs. From my web page: http://www2.sis.pitt.edu/~smasters/SigmaQL/SigmaEx4.htm

2. There would be many variations.  One - for Drawing in 3D -  is in the banner at the top of this blog. There are more precise drawings but they are being saved for the game.

3. The same Landscape terrain could be used for multiple games. It could be pulled out and replaced by another one, like one drawer in a chest of drawers.

4. Treasures would often only be visible in the Walkthrough layer. Things like trees, smoke, and optical illusions would hide them, until found by following the math or street directions!

Appearance of One Game I'd Like to Create - Landmarks

This is a short game I began to create in VB that I'd like help finishing:

http://www2.sis.pitt.edu/~smasters/Game.htm

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Also, pick landmarks that can be optical illusions with other landmarks, such as roads that appear to go one way but go another, or are hidden until you follow the directions!   Any volunteers?

What's This About?

Hi!

So far, these little clippets are sort of like the first chapter in a novel - lots of little scenes but only hints about what it's about!
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Here's a PDF of my presentation from a 2007 ESRI Education Users conference that talks about using Spatial and Visual means to teach math.  GIS* attaches information to a spot on the globe, so that facts become visual - Global Information Systems.  Start on slide 4 of this http://downloads2.esri.com/campus/uploads/library/pdfs/57936.pdf


Please leave comments about whether this is understandable and any ideas it inspires!
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*Here's a good video for 
"What is GIS?" http://www.esri.com/what-is-gis/index.html

Coloring Contest!

On a recent post, this was colored.  I wondered if any of you would be interested in posting a better version?  How?  Either....

1. Print this out, Color it, Scan it, and Post it with your comment (use picture tool to the right of "link" on posting menu). OR

2. Color in a digital version of this and repost it. OR

3. Draw your own version freehand! 

Best to you!
Sara

Mary Poppins and 3D

I think the first time I thought about 3D in a different way was when my mother read Mary Poppins to me. Suddenly, I saw all the space in a room and that it could be turned in different directions.  For instance, when Mr. Wigg floated up to the ceiling and the children joined him, by laughing! Here's a section called "Laughing Gas" where  laughing sends her up from the floor: "Michael, to his astonishment, saw her go soaring up through the room. With a little bump, her head touched the ceiling and then she went bouncing along it till she reached Mr. Wigg."[1934, by P.L. Travers, illustrated by  Mary Shepard, 35.]

Panorama at top of Arched Ball Throw

Thanks to my son Chip McCormick for finding this!


Here's a new panoramic camera inside a soccer-type ball! It will be in SIGGRAPH Asia's Emerging Technologies.  When thrown, it takes a picture from hundreds of cameras simultaneously.  From this, it creates a panorama:

ChangingLevels - my project

Here are some sketches for my game design, regarding Changing Levels.  Click to enlarge. Use Backward Arrow (top left) when done.

Vertical Levels

Basic Landscape: Surface Terrain.

Changing Levels: By balloon, birds, airplane...

Nintendo-like Levels, includes different games.

Drawn by Sara Masters. Copyright 2011.

Shapes: Iconic geometry

from the circle to the Egyptian pyramids to the Taj Mahal


BBC radio broadcast from the series: The Changing World, Sept. 2011:

Thanks to my sister, Mary, for this link!
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"Structural engineer and designer Cecil Balmond probes what he calls 'iconic geometry,' shapes that have formed our thinking in science, math, and design.. "   http://www.thechangingworld.org/archives/2011/wk40.php
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One speaker was Ian Stewart, an English emeritus professor who is one of my favorites.  He often writes about the naturally occurring patterns displayed throughout nature, so that even within apparent Chaos, finding the right perspective reveals a pattern, such as with turbulence.  In a field of corn, the tassles and stalks appear to blend in chaotically with the background until you hit the right point when driving past __ at which time the rows all line up magically, only to fade away in another second!

Some of his books include:

• Nature's Numbers, the Unreal Reality of Mathematics
• Flatterland, Like Flatland Only More So 
• Does God Play Dice? The New Mathematics of Chaos  which includes showing order within chaos.

Landmark - my project

A couple of years ago, this was what I was thinking of for one module of my project - finding  a Landmark that was hard to recognize out of context, that students could solve in three ways:

• math problems on their current classroom level*
• street directions
• the student's memory.

They were given a Starting Point, looking in a certain direction and they had to find angles and lines to get there!  Sort of like a video game with measurement added! :)

For the final picture, I used a Gigapan - a panorama with great zooming resolution, then chose a landmark that was too small to see in the full view! This link was  of PPG Place (sorry, not high quality, being my first full one, taken in very cold weather so I had trouble lining it up).
This evergreen bear is actually in the Gigapan above!

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* math directions for a student might be:

To get there (as the crow flies). 

1. The game starts by facing East (0 degrees) from START (LaRoche).

2. Turn 90 degrees to the right.

3. Go 10 miles.

4. Turn 90 degrees to the left.

5. Go ¼ mile.

6. Turn 90 degrees to the left again, and look for . . .[hint given].

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Sara

Spiral Sine in Helix and Mandelbrot Plots

These are interesting math graphing links.

1. Here's a Sine Spiral Graphed on a Helix (slightly animated),
by Justin Coslor.  
http://ia700702.us.archive.org/12/items/SineSpiralGraphingForHelixOrbitTrigonometry/JustinCoslor2011SineSpiralGraphing-Animation.gif

and
2. a way to generate Mandelbrot Plots:

from http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/mandelbrot/MandelbrotPlot.html
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Can you find any more Mandelbrot sites?
Google images of Mandelbrot plots...

This site teaches Flash as well!

Goodnight!
Sara

View 3D with your iPhone

Hi,

I've been gone so long! I decided to post interesting web sites, people, products as I find them that are related to my math project.

For today, there's a 3D viewer that attaches to your iPhone or iPod that gives you stereoscopic vision! http://www.hasbro.com/hasbromy3d/en_US/

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For developers:

"Are you interested in developing your own custom apps for Hasbro's MY3D viewer?

You've come to the right spot.

We will be releasing a MY3D SDK! " Yay!