Fred Martin

Digital manipulatives: new toys to think with

In many educational settings, manipulative materials (such as Cuisenaire Rods and Pattern Blocks) play an important role in children’s learning, enabling children to explore mathematical and scientific concepts (such as number and shape) through direct manipulation of physical objects. Our group at de MJT Media Lab has developed a new generation of “digital manipulatives”-computationallyenhanced versions of traditional children’s toys. These new manipulatives enable children to explore a new set of concepts (im particular, “systems concepts” such as feedback and emergence) that have previously been considered “too advanced” for children to learn. In this paper, we discuss four of our digital manipulatives-computationallyaugmented versions of blocks, beads, balls, and badges.

Programmable bricks: toys to think with

In this paper, we discuss the applications and implications of the Programmable Brick—a tiny, portable computer embedded inside a LEGO ® brick, capable of interacting with the physical world in a large variety of ways. We describe how Programmable Bricks make possible a wide range of new design activities for children, and we discuss experiences in using Programmable Bricks in three types of applications: autonomous creatures, active environments, and personal science experiments.

Will massive open online courses change how we teach

Sharing recent experiences with an online course.

Meme tags and community mirrors: moving from conferences to collaboration

Meme Tags are part of a body of research on GroupWear: a wearable technology that supports people in the formative stages of cooperative work. Conference participants wear Meme Tags that allow them to electronically share memes—succinct ideas or opinions—with each other. Alongside of the person-toperson transactions, a server system collects information about the memetic exchanges and reflects it back to the conference-goers in Community Mirrors—large, public video displays that present real-time visualizations of the unfolding community dynamics. This paper presents results from a proof-of-concept trial of the Meme Tag technology undertaken at a MIT Media Laboratory conference.

GroupWear: nametags that tell about relationships

We have built a set of computationally-augmented nametags capable of providing information about the relationship between two people engaged in a face-to-face conversation. This paper puts forward criteria useful for the design of such interpersonal augmentation, experiences that inform the principles, and initial evidence of their success.

MetaCricket: a designer's kit for making computational devices

We present the design of a construction kit, for building computational devices, called MetaCricket. MetaCricket consists of a set of hardware modules and the integrated software, which runs both on a development computer and within the MetaCricket hardware. MetaCricket provides a flexible interactive development environment for trying out new hardware and behaviors. The underlying architecture makes it easy for designers to expand the basic construction kit themselves with minimal engineering effort. Through a few examples, we show how designers, enabled by MetaCricket to be engineers of their own tools, are rethinking and transforming the very character of design principles in the digital age. MetaCricket was originally designed for use by children, but has been adopted by professional designers who are not professional engineers. These designers have found it incredibly liberating to directly implement their ideas without depending on engineers for assistance.

Integrating computational thinking across the K--8 curriculum

The excitement around K-12 Computing Education in the United States is rapidly increasing and K-8 holds great potential as the entry point for the integration of computing. We examine how young learners can gain early exposure and engage in rich computational experiences in K-8. These experiences can build students’ computational thinking, understanding of CS concepts, experience with collecting and analyzing data, programming skills and confidence as critical thinkers. We discuss how three types of computational activities: digital storytelling, data collection and analysis, and computational science investigations, can be used to incorporate computational thinking (CT) across the curriculum.

LEGO/Logo and Electronic Bricks: Creating a Scienceland for Children

LEGO/Logo is a computer-based system whereby children can build mechanical projects (such as cars, ferris wheels, and legged “animals”) out of plastic LEGO parts, and control them using an extended version of the Logo programming language.

Artbotics: community-based collaborative art and technology education

The paper describes the formation and the progress of the Artbotics collaboration between disciplines in art and computer science. Its focus is on the pedagogy and issues of interdisciplinary undergraduate course development, particularly how to define and maintain the balance between Art and Science education.

Chirp on crickets: teaching compilers using an embedded robot controller

Traditionally, the topics of compiler construction and language processing have been taught as an elective course in Computer Science curricula. As such, students may graduate with little understanding or experience with the useful techniques embodied in modern compiler construction.In this paper, we present the design of Chirp, a language specification and compiler implementation. As a language, Chirp is based on Java/C syntax conventions and is matched with the stack-based virtual machine that is built into the simple yet versatile Handy Cricket educational robot controller. As a compiler, the Chirp design is a series of Java components. These modules demonstrate key compiler construction techniques including lexing, parsing, intermediate representation, semantic analysis, error handling and code generation.We have designed a 6-week teaching module to be integrated into an intermediate-level undergraduate programming class. In the module, students will incrementally build the Chirp compiler, culminating with code generation for the Cricket controller. They will test their work on both physical Cricket-based robots and a web-based Cricket simulator. The Chirp system and our pedagogical design provides a realistic and engaging environment to teach compilers in undergraduate core programming courses.