I design engineering projects for middle school and high school students, often using materials that are pretty unexpected. My inspiration comes from problems in my daily life. For example, one time I needed a costume to go to a comic convention, but I didn't want to spend too much money, so I made my own ... with a light-up crown and skirt.
Ja dizajniram inženjerske projekte za osnovce i srednjoškolce, često koristeći neočekivane materijale. Inspiracija mi dolazi iz svakodnevnih problema. Na primer, jednom mi je trebao kostim za konvenciju stripa, ali nisam želela da potrošim previše novca, te sam napravila sopstveni... sa svetlećom krunom i suknjom.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
Another time, I was devastated because my favorite mobile game, Flappy Bird, was being taken off the app store.
Drugi put, bila sam razočarana jer su moju omiljenu igricu na mobilnom, Flepi Brd, povukli sa prodavnice aplikacija.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
So I was faced with the dilemma to either never update my phone or never play Flappy Bird again.
Suočila sam se sa dilemom da li da nikada ne osvežavam svoj telefon ili nikada više ne igram Flepi Brd.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
Unhappy with both options, I did the only thing that made sense to me. I made a physical version of Flappy Bird that could never be taken off the app store.
Nezadovoljna obema opcijama, uradila sam jedinu stvar koja mi se činila smislenom. Napravila sam fizičku verziju Flepi Brda koja neće nikada biti uklonjena sa prodavnice aplikacija.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
(Music)
(Muzika)
(Beeping)
(Pištanje)
(Music)
(Muzika)
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
So a few of my friends were also pretty addicted to the game, and I invited them to play as well.
Nekoliko mojih prijatelja bilo je prilično navučeno na igricu, pa sam i njih pozvala da je igraju.
(Video) Friend: Ah!
(Video) Priljatelj: Ah!
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
(Video) Friend: What the heck?
(Video) Prijatelj: Šta bre?
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
And they told me that it was just as infuriating as the original game.
Rekli su mi da jednako frustrira kao originalna igrica.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
So I uploaded a demo of this project online, and to my surprise it went viral. It had over two million views in just a few days.
Stoga sam okačila na internet demo ovog projekta i na moje iznenađenje, proširilo se na mreži. Imao je više od dva miliona pregleda u samo nekoliko dana.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
And what's more interesting are people's comments. A lot of people wanted to make it their own, or asked me how it was made. So this kind of confirmed my idea that through a creative project, we can teach people about engineering.
Još interesantniji su komentari ljudi. Mnogi ljudi su želeli da naprave sopstvenu igricu, ili su me pitali kako se pravi. Ovo mi je potvrdilo ideju da kroz kreativni projekat možemo da podučimo ljude inženjerstvu.
With the money made from the viral video, we were able to let students in our classroom all make their own game in a box. Although it was pretty challenging, they learned a lot of new concepts in engineering and programming. And they were all eager to learn so they could finish the game as well.
Sa zarađenim novcem od viralnog videa, mogli smo da uvedemo učenike u učionicu i naučimo ih da naprave sopstvenu igricu u kutiji. Iako je to bilo priličan izazov, naučili su mnogo novih koncepata inženjerstva i programiranja. Takođe, svi su bili voljni da uče tako da mogu da završe igricu.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
So before Flappy Bird Box, I had the idea of using creative engineering projects to teach students. When I was teaching at a middle school, we asked our students to build a robot from a standard technology kit. And I noticed that a lot of them seemed bored. Then a few of them started taking pieces of paper and decorating their robots. And then more of them got into it, and they became more interested in the project. So I started looking for more creative ways to introduce technology to students. What I found was that most technology kits available in school look a little intimidating. They're all made of plastic parts that you can't customize. On top of that, they're all very expensive, costing hundreds of dollars per kit. So that's certainly not very affordable for most classroom budgets.
Pre kutije Flepi Brd, imala sam ideju za korišćenje kreativnih inženjerskih projekata za podučavanje učenika. Kada sam podučavala starije osnovce, pitali smo učenike da naprave robota od standardne tehnološke opreme. Primetila sam da su mnogi delovali kao da se dosađuju. Zatim je nekoliko njih počelo da uzima delove papira i da dekoriše svoje robote. Zatim se još više njih uključilo i postali su zainteresovaniji za projekat. Stoga sam počela da tražim još kreativnih načina da predstavim tehnologiju učenicima. Ono što sam otkrila je da je većina tehnološke opreme dostupne u školi izgledala pomalo zastrašujuće. Skroz su napravljene od plastičnih delova koje ne možete da prilagodite. Povrh svega, veoma su skupe - koštaju stotine dolara po kompletu. To definitivno nije veoma pristupačno za mnoge školske budžete.
Since I didn't find anything, I decided to make something on my own. I started with paper and fabric. After all, we all played with those since we were kids, and they are also pretty cheap and can be found anywhere around the house. And I prototyped a project where students can create a light-up creature using fabric and googly eyes. They were all helping each other in classrooms, and were laughing and discussing the project. And most importantly, they were able to insert their own creativity into the project.
Pošto ništa nisam našla, odlučila sam da sama napravim nešto. Počela sam sa papirom i tkaninom. Uostalom, svi smo se igrali sa tim stvarima kada smo bili deca, prilično su jeftine i mogu se naći bilo gde po kući. Napravila sam prototip projekta gde učenici mogu da naprave svetleću figuru koristeći tkaninu i izvrnute oči. Svi su pomagali jedni drugima u učionici, smejali se i diskutovali o projektu. Najvažnije od svega je da su mogli da uključe sopstvenu kreativnost u projekat.
So because of the success of this project, I continued to create more engineering projects to challenge my students. And I also started to take these workshops outside of school and into the community. And something really interesting happened. I noticed a lot of people from very diverse backgrounds started coming to our workshops. And specifically, there were a lot more women and minorities than I expected, and that you wouldn't usually see at a traditional engineering workshop.
Zbog uspeha projekta, nastavlia sam da stvaram još inženjerskih projekata kako bih davala izazove svojim učenicima. Takođe sam počela da držim ove radionice van škole i unutar zajednice. Desilo se nešto veoma zanimljivo. Primetila sam gomilu ljudi sa različitim poreklom koji su poćeli da dolaze na radionice. Posebno je bilo mnogo više žena i pripadnika manjina nego što sam očekivala koje ne biste uglavnom videli na uobičajenim inženjerskim radionicama.
Now take a look at this employee report at a major technology company in 2016. Women make up only 19 percent of the technology workforce. And underrepresented minorities make up only four percent. This statistic might look familiar if you walked into a high school robotics club, or a college engineering class.
Pogledajte ovaj izveštaj o radnicima jedne veće tehnološke kompanije za 2016. godinu. Žene čine samo 19 procenata tehnološke radne snage. Nedovoljno zastupljene manjine čine samo četiri procenata. Ova statistika deluje poznato ako posetite klub robotike srednje škole ili čas inženjerstva na koledžu.
Now, there's a wide variety of problems that contribute to the lack of diversity in the technology force. Perhaps one solution could be to introduce technology to students through creative projects. I'm not saying that this could solve everything, but it could introduce technology to people who originally wouldn't be interested in it because of how it has been portrayed and taught in school.
Postoji različiti spektar problema koje doprinose nedostatku raznovrsnosti u tehnološkoj radnoj snazi. Možda bi jedno od rešenja moglo biti pribilžavanje tehnologije učenicima kroz kreativne projekte. Ne kažem da bi ovo moglo rešiti sve, ali bi moglo približiti tehnologiju ljudima koji prvobitno ne bi bili zainteresovani zbog načina na koji im je predstavljena i podučavana u školi.
So how do we start to change the perception of technology? Most students think that it's boring or unwelcoming, so I have always designed projects following three principles. First is having a low floor, and that means this project is easy to get started. So take a look at this tutorial. The first project we asked students to learn is to make a circuit on paper. As you can see, it doesn't take very long to learn, and it's pretty easy even for beginners. And having a low floor also means that we're removing the financial barrier that prevents people from completing a project. So with paper, copper tape, lightbulb and a battery, people can complete this project for under a dollar.
Kako da počnemo promenu u sagledavanju tehnologije? Većina učenika misli da je dosadna i nepristupačna, pa sam uvek kreirala projekte prateći tri principa. Prvi je imati nizak prag, što znači da se ovaj projekat može lako započeti. Pogledajte ovo uputstvo. Prvi projekat koji smo zadali učenicima da savladaju je pravljenje strujnog kola na papiru. Kao što možete videti, ne treba mnogo da bi se naučilo, i prilično je lako čak i za početnike. Imati nizak prag takođe znači da uklanjamo finansijsko ograničenje koja sprečava ljude da završe projekat. Sa papirom, bakarnom trakom, sijalicom i baterijom, ljudi mogu da završe ovaj projekat za manje od dolara.
So second principle is having a high ceiling. This means that there's a lot of room to grow, and students are constantly being challenged. At first it might just be a light-up creature, but then you can add sensors and microcontrollers, and start to program the creature to interact with its environment.
Drugi princip je imati visok plafon. Ovo znači da postoji mnogo prostora za napredak, a učenici stalno dobijaju nove izazove. Na početku to mogu biti svetleća stvorenja, a potom možete dodati senzore i mikrokontrolore i početi programiranje stvorenja koja su u interakciji sa okruženjem.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
And finally, the third principle is customization. This means that we can make this project relevant to anyone. That's the beauty of using everyday materials; it's very easy to customize using paper and fabric. So even if you don't like Flappy Bird, you can still make your own game.
I konačno, treći princip je prilagođavanje. Ovo znači da možemo da učinimo ovaj projekat relevantnim za svakoga. To je lepota korišćenja svakodnevnih materijala. Prilagođavanje je veoma lako uz korišćenje papira i tkanine. Čak i ako ne volite Flepi Brd, i dalje možete napraviti sopstvenu igricu.
(Video) Student: So our game is about Justin Bieber, because he's been speeding, and the object is to prevent him from getting caught by the LAPD --
(Video) Učenica: Naša igrica je o Džastinu Biberu, jer brzo vozi, a cilj je spasiti ga da ga ne uhvati policija Los Anđelesa...
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
(Video) Student: Yeah, but he's changing so -- we're a part of his posse.
(Video) Učenica: Da, menja se, a mi smo deo njegove ekipe.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)