Tinkering Fundamentals: Motion and Mechanisms

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Tinkering Fundamentals: Motion and Mechanisms

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About this course: The Tinkering Fundamentals course will offer educators and enthusiasts an opportunity to develop a practice of tinkering and making. We see tinkering as a serious endeavor—one that is generalizable across content and especially good at interweaving disciplines in a way that leads to complex projects and individualized learning opportunities. Tinkering has recently been introduced into the educational field as a potential driver of creativity, excitement, and innovation in science learning. It is seen by many as an effective means to engage in exploring STEM concepts, practices and phenomena. Tinkering typically blends the high and low tech tools of science along with …

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When you enroll for courses through Coursera you get to choose for a paid plan or for a free plan

  • Free plan: No certicification and/or audit only. You will have access to all course materials except graded items.
  • Paid plan: Commit to earning a Certificate—it's a trusted, shareable way to showcase your new skills.

About this course: The Tinkering Fundamentals course will offer educators and enthusiasts an opportunity to develop a practice of tinkering and making. We see tinkering as a serious endeavor—one that is generalizable across content and especially good at interweaving disciplines in a way that leads to complex projects and individualized learning opportunities. Tinkering has recently been introduced into the educational field as a potential driver of creativity, excitement, and innovation in science learning. It is seen by many as an effective means to engage in exploring STEM concepts, practices and phenomena. Tinkering typically blends the high and low tech tools of science along with a strong aesthetic dimension that supports children’s (and adults’) self expression. NB: This is a hands-on course, so you will need several tools and materials to do weekly activities. You are welcome to purchase only what you don't already have—or even better try to scrounge them from surplus stores! We have put together a list of recommended materials, which you can find here: http://bit.ly/motion-materials For over a decade, the Exploratorium has been developing science-rich tinkering activities for both children and adults. We see tinkering as a fun yet serious endeavor—spanning many disciplines and content areas and fostering connections between art, science, and technology. Learners follow their own path to understanding by investigating tools and materials and exploring questions that interest them. This opens up a wide range of possible answers rather than any specific “right” one, particularly for teaching STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) subjects in the classroom. This course centers on activities related to Motion and Mechanisms, which offer a wealth of opportunities for thinking through making. In this course, we won’t just show you how we develop tinkering activities; we’ll also delve into why. We’ll focus on three important aspects: activity design around specific materials, facilitation strategies, and environmental organization. We’ll also share some guiding principles and learning indicators we’ve developed that can help you integrate tinkering into your elementary and middle-school science program. Whether you’re new to making or a seasoned tinkerer, we hope this course will help you take the next step! OUR APPROACH TO TEACHING This is a hands-on workshop, not a lecture-based class. Participation is essential! We want everyone to be making and tinkering together: trying things out, asking questions, sharing ideas, and reflecting together as a community. This is a wonderful chance to tinker and learn alongside people from all over the world and from all walks of life, so don’t be shy! PLEASE NOTE: We have put a great deal of effort towards creating a supportive space that encourages exploration. We’ll give you a few ways to get started; prompt you to share your own observations and experience as learners, designers, and facilitators; and hopefully spark interesting conversations and discoveries along the way. While it’s not a requirement, we encourage you to take this class with a friend or colleague, or meet with other people in your area: having support or doing activities with others will enhance your experience and help you stay engaged. This project was funded by generous support from Overdeck Family Foundation and the National Science Foundation.

Who is this class for: This course is primarily aimed at teachers, after school educators, and museum professionals that want to get started or expand their tinkering practice and programs. However, the information is general enough to be useful to parents and individuals who are personally interested and curious about this way to explore learning and thinking through making!

Created by:  Exploratorium
  • Taught by:  Mike Petrich, Director, Informal Learning Center

  • Taught by:  Karen Wilkinson, Director, Tinkering Studio

  • Taught by:  Luigi Anzivino, Professional Development Lead

    Tinkering Studio
Level Beginner Commitment 5 weeks of study, 2-4 hours/week Language English How To Pass Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. User Ratings 4.8 stars Average User Rating 4.8See what learners said Coursework

Each course is like an interactive textbook, featuring pre-recorded videos, quizzes and projects.

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Exploratorium The Exploratorium is a twenty-first-century learning laboratory, an eye-opening, always-changing, playful place to explore and tinker. For more than forty years, we’ve built creative, thought-provoking exhibits, tools, programs, and experiences that ignite curiosity, encourage exploration, and lead to profound learning. We use the same tools and approaches to design compelling professional development programs for teachers ranging from novice to expert, elementary to high school, and formal and informal, in fields of science, math, and engineering. To date the Exploratorium has provided in-depth, multi-year programming to thousands of educators from over 450 school districts in 47 states and in many different countries.

Syllabus


WEEK 1


Introduction to Tinkering
What is tinkering? What does it mean to you? Is it different from engineering or other forms of making? We'll explore these questions in the readings and forums while getting a sneak preview of the activities we'll be sharing over the following modules.


3 videos, 5 readings expand


  1. Reading: Week Overview
  2. Video: Motion and Mechanisms: Welcome to the course
  3. Video: Course Overview
  4. Video: Motion and Mechanisms Activities
  5. Reading: Your turn
  6. Reading: Course Overview
  7. Reading: Course format
  8. Reading: Credit Requirements


WEEK 2


Marble Machines



Let's get started with our first activity! Marble Machines are creative ball-run contraptions made from familiar materials. This week we will show you the activity in action, talk about its design, then discuss in detail how to build your own Marble Machines set. We also hear from the artist who inspired the activity, and Eleanor Duckworth will share her pedagogical perspective.


5 videos, 2 readings expand


  1. Reading: Week Overview: Iteration with Marble Machines
  2. Video: Marble Machines
  3. Video: Designing for Tinkerability: Marble Machines
  4. Video: Inspiration: Bernie Zubrowski
  5. Video: Making Marble Machines
  6. Video: Pedagogical Perspective: Eleanor Duckworth
  7. Reading: Your Turn


WEEK 3


CARDBOARD AUTOMATA
This week, we turn our attention to Cardboard Automata: inspired by crank-operated mechanical devices that tell miniature stories with movement and narrative, these simple but engaging contraptions are often a vehicle for personal expression and humor.


15 videos, 2 readings expand


  1. Reading: Week Overview: Creative Expression with Cardboard Automata
  2. Video: Cardboard Automata
  3. Video: Designing for Tinkerability: Cardboard Automata
  4. Video: Inspiration: Carlos Zapata
  5. Video: Making Cardboard Automata
  6. Video: Pedagogical Perspective: Hubert Dyasi
  7. Reading: Your Turn
  8. Video: Cardboard Automata Mechanism 1
  9. Video: Cardboard Automata Mechanism 2
  10. Video: Cardboard Automata Mechanism 3
  11. Video: Cardboard Automata Mechanism 4
  12. Video: Cardboard Automata Mechanism 5
  13. Video: Revealed: Mechanism 1
  14. Video: Reveal: Mechanism 2
  15. Video: Reveal: Mechanism 3
  16. Video: Reveal: Mechanism 4
  17. Video: Reveal: Mechanism 5


WEEK 4


Chain Reaction



A Chain Reaction machine is a deceptively simple concept, but one that allows for an incredibly complex and deep investigation into something we experience every day: the relationship between cause and effect. It brings all of a tinkerer’s skills to bear to improvise, build, troubleshoot, and imagine a problem and its solution!


7 videos, 2 readings expand


  1. Reading: Week Overview: Problem Posing with Chain Reaction
  2. Video: Chain Reaction
  3. Video: Designing for Tinkerability: Chain Reactions
  4. Video: Inspiration: Arthur Ganson
  5. Video: Making Chain Reactions
  6. Video: Pedagogical Perspective: Bernie Zubrowski
  7. Video: Chain Reaction Connections
  8. Video: Arthur Ganson Considers Chain Reactions
  9. Reading: Your Turn


WEEK 5


Research + Practice
This week is dedicated to exploring the relationship between practice and research about learning through tinkering.


5 videos, 2 readings expand


  1. Reading: Week Overview: Research + Practice
  2. Video: Research + Practice
  3. Video: Teachers Talking About Tinkering
  4. Video: Wrap up
  5. Reading: Your Turn
  6. Video: Making & Tinkering: The Intertwined Dimensions of Learning
  7. Video: Making & Tinkering: The Power of Ideas

Graded: Tinkering Journal
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