Final Post!!

1. All of our ideas and thoughts are present on our documents.
2. Sometimes we drew pictures, used media apps, used visual note taking, used a video recording of our conversations, pictures or wrote about the topics. Sometimes the work that was posted was part of a process because it took multiple stages to complete it. Using wordle, Alexa had experience before but Amina and Rozaliya did not so they had a hard time figuring it out. With the wordle, it was more product oriented because there was a certain look that Alexa was looking for and wanted certain words bigger than others. For the writing, it didn't take much time because technology wasn't a factor because the technology part was new to Amina.
3. It helps us know that there are different outlets to present ideas and learn. Looking back at our posts, we feel confident with what we posted because we took our time and went back to review what we posted. Amina and Rozaliya just learned to post their responses!  Yay!!

Christal & Laura Final Post

We really enjoyed working together to create Multimedia Portfolio! We gained valuable experience from trying out different ways to explore the topics. We enjoyed using all of them, but found that we got the most out of techniques that allowed us to focus on the process, rather than the product.

Final Review - Rachel, Janet, Stacie

Our Final Mutual Thoughts...

Whose ideas/actions are missing from documentation?

So when there were absences (Stacie and Rachel), we contacted one another via email to discuss what what missed and then reviewed the blog. We also made sure that, even when we were absent, that we submitted on time so that those who were attending class could review it live in class.

How does your portfolio show HOW you arrived at your answers?

As a group of individuals, we found ourselves to be researchers that think the same way. We discussed more than once that we were all most comfortable responding via text submissions, because we all had this feeling that the images didn't thoroughly answer the questions. We all felt a strong need to be "sure" that we answered correctly and completely. After discussing with Minsoo, we all decided to make sure that we were using the other media options (word clouds, thought mapping, visual note taking) for our future response. However, it still seems we added text responses along with the multimedia responses, nevertheless.

How does reviewing your work solidify or change your thinking? 

Reviewing our work primarily showed us how we were such close thinkers and that our processes were so similar. Mainly, reviewing offered the three of us insight on how we can broaden our techniques and incorporate additional media outlets to our future portfolio ventures. We feel as though this solidified the strengths that we personally bring to groups that are usually more diverse that this one. We just "lucked out" that we all have the same strength! 

Rozaliya - Brain

Christal - Play Part 2

Rozaliya - Play Part II

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Amina - Play Part 2

The imagination Playground is a unique active creative play product for kids. It is unique, imaginative, and inspirational for kids and transforms any space into a child directed play. Children use soft, non-toxic foam blocks that are 10X the size of regular wooden blocks to make different things. The enormous blocks are so unique and big that when kids see them they get excited to explore and investigate them. These blocks are safe, waterproof, mold resistance, and resistance to heat and sunlight. With the portable imagination playground, children use their cognitive thinking skills to build their imaginary castles, cars, trucks, or whatever they imagine of creating. 

They engage in active play to create their own imaginary world. They explore various ideas with the blocks to create an imaginary world for themselves. The blocks are soft but firm enough for kids to make various projects like hospital, schools, library buildings, bridges, houses, restaurants, hotels, towns etc. When children create something they get excited. There is no doubt that play is important for healthy brain development. Kids develop social skills when they collaborate and interact to create their imaginary world. With these gigantic foam blocks, kids can create different thing alone or within a group. They can connect their individual products with others to make different and unique designs. When children engage with others they also develop important skills like problem-solving skills, self-control, vocabulary, language, and teamwork.

Adventures of a Cardboard Box

How do the examples engage children in questioning, exploring, and investigating the world around them? 

The Adventures of a Cardboard Box is an adorable film showing the adventures of a young boy and his cardboard box. Throughout the short film, we see the boy using the box in new and different ways. I especially liked the very beginning where after he first discovered the box, he spent some time brainstorming and using his imagination - not only with the box but with other items in his house as well. He can be seen going through his home and finding toys and objects and thinking of them in imaginative ways. He can also be seen "warming up" before playing with the box - doing jumping jacks, stretching, etc. He is also outside most of the time when he is playing with the box. He is entertained, amused, and using his brain. The box also appears to bring him together with his sister, as well as his parents - they all participate in the fun! 

The Adventures of a Cardboard Box

Imagination Playground!

How do the examples engage children in questioning, exploring, and investigating the world around them? (Be as specific as possible!)

Imagination playground is an incredible way for children to create anything their imagination can dream up! By providing children with non-specific and open-ended instructions, they are free to build structures that represent their own unique ideas. Imagination playground encourages inquisitive play and questioning, as the structures can be used in many ways and the possibilities are endless! Children can use any pieces they'd like to creat houses, factories, schools, and more - all present opportunities for children to explore various roles in play situations (i.e., assuming the role of a teacher in the school they've built) and explore their newly constructed structures. Imagination Playground gives children the freedom to create, imagine, and build. It is comprised of portable materials that can be used indoors or outdoors (materials are soft, non-toxic, and appropriate for use in either space). Unstructured materials allow children to express themselves freely, either independently or as part of a team. Children creating structures together can engage in role exploration, working as a team, taking turns, sharing, compromising, etc. By providing themselves with concrete representations of structures, children have the opportunity to use the materials to understand real-world contexts. Pieces can be either large or small, providing opportunity for fine motor and gross motor development in addition to the wonderful cognitive benefits children receive when manipulating such open-ended materials. 

Pop-Up Adventure Play - Rachel

"Pop-Up Adventure Play"

Word Cloud Brainstorming:

Question: 
How do the examples engage children in questioning, exploring, and investigating the world around them? (Be as specific as possible!)

Answer:
A Pop-Up Adventure  Playground is a creation directly from the exploring, brainstorming, planning, and building of children. On public sites, children-led play is encouraged with the use of "loose parts (such as cardboard boxes, fabric, tape and string)" that are provided by the Playworkers staff members. This type of free play with miscellaneous tools and  materials allows for children of all ages and abilities to participate and be challenged at their own level. Also, the use of everyday items and basic tools asks the children not only to be creative, but to be economical with supply, and investigative as to what to use.
These pop-up playground allow support community involvement for family and volunteers, bringing together children and community members for collaborative work!

Play Part 2

• Please pick one of the play examples below and answer the following question:
  How do the examples engage children in questioning, exploring, and investigating the world around them? (Be as specific as possible!)
  1) Pop-up Adventure Play
  http://www.popupadventureplay.org/
  2) Imagination Playground
  http://www.imaginationplayground.com/
  3) The Adventures of a Cardboard Box
  https://youtu.be/XnbhLwNUQ-Y
  *Please post your response before our last class on May 9. Please try to use a different medium than last time!

What learning seems worth exploring further?

There are so many students who have ADHD.  We want to know more about ADHD.  We want to find out what strategies could we use with them.  We want to know how can we support them inside our classrooms.  We also want to find out at what age should the child be diagnosed for ADHD and what characteristics should we look for in children that might exhibit ADHD behavior.   We also want to know various strategies that we could use with kids whose parents don't support medicine.

Neuroscience Articles Group Review - Rachel, Janet, Stacie

Neuroscience Articles Group Review - Rachel, Janet, Stacie

Why did your group decide to use a particular type (or types) of media over others to collect artifacts? Did it work out as you anticipated? Why or why not? 

Each member in the group decided that writing a response and answering the three questions was the most effective way to respond to this particular assignment.

The questions posed lended themselves to needing a proper written responses, and that an image could be added as a supplementary piece (Stacie and Rachel also added in an image/word map.) We have noticed that the three of us are more comfortable with literary response techniques, so that we can get our whole point across and "spell everything out for you." None of us want to splice words or be misconstrued.

All three of us also numbered our responses and answered in them order, again ensuring that we all "properly completed" the assignment.

Suggested next step is to use Pictocharts to explore new modalities.

Bilingual Brain

"Why being bilingual works wonders for your brain" - Guardian Article
Mind Map by Rachel

1)    This piece gave a detailed overview of the benefits of speaking more than one language. According to the author, Research suggests we may be predisposed to speak more than one language and that doing so brings health benefits, such as delaying the onset of dementia. It touches upon the super languages, the brain of a multilingual person, and even a psycholinguistic approach.

2)    For educators from early education through high school, this article supposed that there is a benefit to the instruction of more than one language and that students who speak more than one language have the ability to do better in school and test higher. This also shows that there are also learning applications for adults, that those who speak more than one language retain the capacities for learning longer, and well as stave off the developmentally detrimental effects of disease like Alzheimer's.


3)  This resource had a good deal of research and obviously has a bias toward multilingual speakers, yet across the globe, being at least bilingual is normal! It is only in America that speaking more than one language is uncommon.

Your Baby Can Ready!

1. Your Baby Can Read is a program that promises to help your baby learn to read earlier than normal. They provide information about how a baby's brain is forming thousands of synapses a second, and purport that parents can use this window of opportunity to expose them to reading sooner using this program. The idea is that the child will sit in front of a television, see a word, hear it pronounced, then see an image of the word in action. For example, the word CLAP will appear on the television, then the word "clap" will be spoken by someone in the program, then an image of a baby clapping will appear. Supposedly, this is all tied together in a way to make the baby read the word clap.

2. The implications of this product is that if a baby sees and hears a word, paired with the viewing of the word in action, that they will learn how to read. This product also implies that every baby who is exposed to these stimuli at once will learn to read.

3. The amount of assumptions behind this product are kind of astounding. Just because a child sees a word and hears it, does not mean that they are actually interpreting the letters, reading, and understanding the meaning behind it. If you show a child 4 shapes, such as four circles in a row, then say "clap!" and start clapping, and you do this enough times, they will clap the next time they see four cirlces presented to them in a row. This is the same idea behind your baby can read. It does not teach phonemic awareness - it presents a sound and an image. The babies become conditioned to perform an action or speak a word upon the site of memorized "shapes" or letters. This product may expose children to more vocabulary at a younger age, but it is certainly not teaching them to READ.

Baby Einstein

1. Infomercials for "Your Baby Can Read" claimed that babies could start reading as early as 9 months old with their program. The Federal Trade Commission announced a settlement that the company behind "Your Baby Can Read" - Infant Learning - would agree to judgements over $185 million (the company's gross sales as a result of the program) to resolve charges filed by the FTC. The charges alleged that the program had no scientific evidence.  

2)    This resources can serve as a cautionary tale that just because a company claims its program is educational, doesn't mean that it is! It's important to always do your own thorough research, both as a parent and as an educator, before using a tool or method with children in your care.

3)    The article assumes that the reader is familiar with the "Your Baby Can Read" infomercials. It may have been helpful to include a link to one of the videos like the link that was listed as an option for this assignment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qoqs-GeBj0 

Amina