Koehzie Library

 I started researching how to teach creativity and problem solving skills using technology in the classroom and have found a few articles that deal with this topic. All of these articles point out flaws in typical technology educational practices and suggest ways to better our teaching in this area.  The first article that I found is "Fostering Computational Thinking Through Educational Robotics: a model for creative computational problem solving" by Chevalier, Giang, Piatti, and Mondada in the International Journal of STEM Education. This article focuses on using educational robots to help develop computational thinking in elementary aged students. The study performed and subsequent article aimed to provide a working framework for robotic activities that is designed to foster computational and creative thinking within a problem solving scenario. The article outlines the phases of Creative Computational Problem Solving (CCPS) model as: Understanding the Problem, Generating Id...

     I am interested in exploring design thinking in my teaching future. I have touched on design thinking before, largely in relation to art or maker challenges with things like cardboard, but I would like to learn how to take it deeper with a more purposeful approach. I love doing hands-on work and projects like invention, building, woodworking, sewing, etc. with students and I would like to be able to bring that into the realm of technology as well. I do find lack of funding, technological devices, and expertise a barrier. Two years ago I had $500 for some programmable tech and I spent forever going through all the things available for elementary aged students. There are so many products out there. It was hard to tell what would have longevity - that students to use over and over again in different ways to develop and learn new skills each time. We settles on Lego Mindstorms and they were used the first year but have not been touched since. The students who knew them m...