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Tinkering Fundamentals: Circuits
  • Level Foundation
  • Duration 7 hours
  • Course by Exploratorium
  • Offered by

About

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. 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 “right” one, particularly for teaching STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) subjects in the classroom. This course centers on circuit-related activities, 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: Although this course will not have active instructor participation, 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. REQUIRED COURSE MATERIALS You will need several tools and materials to do weekly course activities. Pre-bundled materials are available from the Exploratorium store at www.artoftinkering.com. Please obtain all materials as soon as possible, well in advance of when you will need them in the course. Be sure to allow extra time for shipping and, if you are outside the U.S., for customs. In some cases, certain items may require assembly. Please refer to the Resources section to review this course’s activity guides.

Modules

Introduction to Tinkering

    • 3 Videos
    • 2 Readings
Show info about module content

3 Videos

  • Welcome Video
  • Course Overview
  • Preview of Activities

2 Readings

  • Week Overview
  • Your turn

Overview, Logistics, and Requirements

    • 3 Readings
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3 Readings

  • Course Overview
  • Course format
  • Credit Requirements

Initial Explorations

    • 6 Videos
    • 2 Readings
Show info about module content

6 Videos

  • Seeing It In Action: Circuit Boards
  • Designing for Tinkerability: Circuit Boards
  • Inspiration: Shih Chieh (CJ) Huang
  • Making Circuit Boards
  • Classroom Connection: Circuit Boards
  • Pedagogical Perspective: Rob Semper

2 Readings

  • Week Overview: Initial Explorations with Tinkering
  • Your Turn

Learning Dimensions

    • 6 Videos
    • 2 Readings
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6 Videos

  • Seeing It in Action: Scribbling Machines
  • Designing for Tinkerability: Scribbling Machines
  • Inspiration: Evil Mad Scientist
  • Making Scribbling Machines
  • Classroom Connection: Scribbling Machines
  • Pedagogical Perspective: Edith Ackermann

2 Readings

  • Week Overview: Identifying Dimensions of Learning
  • Your Turn

Tinkering Tenets and Personal Expression

    • 6 Videos
    • 2 Readings
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6 Videos

  • Welcome to the Mid-Point of the Course
  • Sewn Circuits
  • Paper Circuits
  • Inspiration: Jie Qi
  • Pedagogical Perspective: Mike Eisenberg
  • Classroom Connection

2 Readings

  • Week Overview: Personal Expression Through Tinkering
  • Your Turn

Coding, Computation, and Facilitation Strategies

    • 5 Videos
    • 2 Readings
Show info about module content

5 Videos

  • Inspiration: Eric Rosenbaum
  • MaKey MaKey
  • Toy Take-Apart
  • Pedagogical Perspective: Gever Tulley
  • Pedagogical Perspective: Mitch Resnick

2 Readings

  • Week Overview: Computation, Deconstruction, and Facilitation
  • Your Turn

Putting It All Together

    • 4 Videos
    • 2 Readings
    • 1 PeerReview
Show info about module content

1 Peer Review

  • Tinkering Journal

4 Videos

  • Pedagogical Meta Perspectives
  • Classroom Connection
  • Wrap Up of the Course
  • Pedagogical Perspectives

2 Readings

  • Week Overview: Putting It All Together
  • Your Turn

Auto Summary

Join "Tinkering Fundamentals: Circuits" to explore hands-on tinkering and making, emphasizing the integration of art, science, and technology in STEM education. Designed for educators and enthusiasts, this course by Coursera, offered by the Exploratorium, focuses on circuit-related activities and the principles of activity design, facilitation strategies, and environmental organization. Engage in a global community, fostering creativity and innovation in science learning. Suitable for both beginners and seasoned tinkerers, this foundational course spans 420 minutes and is available with a Starter subscription.

Mike Petrich
Instructors

Mike Petrich

Karen Wilkinson
Instructors

Karen Wilkinson

Luigi Anzivino
Instructors

Luigi Anzivino