Applied Design Skills and Technologies
What is it, and why do I care? ADST feels like an easy cross-curricular component. The more I learn about it, the more I realize it is prevalent in most aspects of education. As we worked through the program and learned about what hands-on learning looks like, I was able to sign up to participate and witness an ADST work block at one of the local elementary schools.
When thinking of what ADST is, I often think about STEM and the more lab-based hands-on learning. When I walked into the library space, the first thing I noticed was bins. Bins on bins on bins. There were students with bins of yarn, students with bins of buttons, robotic mice, red solo cups, and what appeared to be scrap paper.
The first thought through my mind was, what could a student possibly be learning by stacking red solo cups? The answer is that they were given the supplies and asked to come up with a hypothetical problem and then solve it. The students stated they were building a wall to block other students from staring at them. The problem was privacy, so they developed a privacy blind. As I continued to walk through the room, students explained how some of their work followed the same framework of solving a problem. Other students were following their inquiry and just experimenting. Some students were there to play games on a computer, so they found materials to make a game controller and then began playing computer games through that.
I was thoroughly overwhelmed by the amount of options in the room so to take a step back and focus on one area, I chose to try out coding mice. The mice are made for K-3, so that felt like an excellent place to dip my toes in. Wow was I wrong? That poor mouse struggled to get to his cheese, and I ended up having to call in support. There were four student teachers hovering over this robotic mouse, just about ready to rip out our hair. There is a required understanding of sequencing that ended up having to be taught by the teacher overseeing the class. I feel that students having a sense of comfort and a strong grasp of ADST can only result in a better-equipped student going forward.