Cycle One Activities

The second year of DesignIT Studio was divided up into four to six week long cycles. Each cycle had a theme around which the curriculum and activities were centered. The first cycle was named the "MindFest Cycle". Most of the activities were ones that would be demonstrated at MindFest, a day-long celebration of playful inventing and exploring at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. DesignIT students learned the intricacies of each activity, as they would be helping out with activities on the day of MindFest, October 23.

Introduction Day: The staff showed animation movies that some of the students made during summer workshops. The goal was to refresh students' memories of DesignIT and to get them excited about this year. The teens also had a chance to play with Microworlds storytelling and game writing, as well as Cricket-based instruments, and to view the scratch animation film that was also created during the summer workshops.

Straw Hacking: The teens were given a challenge to find unusual ways to use a straw. Some of the ideas were kazoo with pitch slider, levitating a ping pong ball with a straw, animating a straw wrapper, spray guns, and straw rockets. This challenge would be used later on to interact with visitors on the floor, but also gave the students a chance to think creatively.

Doodlebots and Toy Hacking: At the Boys and Girls Club locations, the students disassembled action figures and other toys to change how they work and what they do. They also modified doodledots, which are robots that draw patterns on papers, by changing the patterns of the movement.

Digital Spirograph: The teens played with a Microworlds based program to draw spirograph-like patterns on a computer screen. They were charged with manipulating and changing the program to create different outcomes.

ALA Visitor Interaction: The ALA students practiced working with visitors in preparation for Mindfest. They broke into four small groups to teach guest at the Museum how to either build a straw kazoo or a straw rocket launcher. Afterwards, they discussed how they were able to attract visitors to their area and interact with them successfully.

Furniture Party at Clubs: Saafir made a trip to IKEA in Houston one weekend to pick up furniture to put in the teen rooms at the Boys and Girls Club. He then enlisted teens at the club to help put together the furniture and their teen room to help foster a sense of community among the teens. Their hard work was rewarded with awesome teen rooms and pizza.

Stomp Rockets: Stomp rockets involved creating paper rockets to launch using two liter bottles and rubber tubing. The students had two tries to make their rockets go the longest distance. Many flew sixty feet and some even flew 100 feet and would have gone even further if they had not been stopped by a wall. Afterwards, the group discussed what worked and didn't work with their rockets.

Stop Motion Animation: Using Intel cameras and software, the teens used face paints to transform themselves and capture the transformation on film. They edited their film to create a thirty second short.

Group Filming: The new and returning DesignIT members from ALA joined together to make a film. Returning members filmed the new members acting out different ideas, ending with a human pyramid. Students shot the film from different locations to get unique points of view. Afterwards the film was screened for all the ALA DesignIT students.

Circuit Bending and Melon Harp: At the Circuit Bending station, the teens took apart electronic toys and were challenged to incorporate light sensors and link the toys together. At the Melon Harp station, they programmed the sound making program for the Crickets in Microworlds. Then they manipulated the programs to make different sounds when sensors were jabbed into fruits and vegetables.

MindFest: MindFest was the finale for the cycle work. The ALA students helped Museum and visiting staff conduct playshops (play-based workshops) and helped out with activities on the Museum's floor. Some of the Boys and Girls Club teens were able to help out as well, though not as many as originally hoped for because of transportation issues.