Digital Education

AQA Creative Education Conference, Part 1: Resources

Melissa Romaine - 14.03.2013

The education team here at Nesta believe that children are inherent makers who "bake" pies with mud, share stories with their invisible (and visible) friends, create YouTube videos of their friends dancing to popular songs, and have mastered manipulating tablets and touch screens to draw.

Children are avid collaborative learners who teach and share experiences with their friends, and we should continue to find ways to use this creative foundation in digital making. Much of today's conversation around implementing computer science curricula in schools revolves around the coding and programming side of the discourse, often without taking a critical look at the "making" side of the digital making.

For example, you could build a replica of R2-D2 out of old boxes and tin foil, and use the Hummingbird Robotics Kit to make him move around like a real droid, like this secondary school student did:

You could use Scratch 2.0, the new version that allows you to view, copy, and alter the coding in a homemade computer game, to create your own zombie-killing game.

Video games are a huge industry in the UK, as our Next Gen. report discussed, and mastering maths, physics, and art are essential for joining this growing sector (as Alex Hope stated in the piece). Earlier this month, the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York opened an exhibit on video games that will "emphasise not only the visual quality and aesthetic experience of each game, but also the elegance of the code and the design of the player's behaviour," according to the curator Paola Antonelli. Already this has sparked some controversy and discussion around the artistic value of video games; it will be interesting to see where this conversation leads.

On Thursday, March 14 I'm giving a keynote speech at the AQA Education Show Creative Education Conference in Birmingham about integrating digital technologies in the arts classrooms. Below are the resources I'm sharing with teachers, and many more suggestions for sites and activities that can be integrated. Don't forget that there are great tutorials on YouTube!

• Mozilla Thimble (Secondary): Website building tool with prompts for coding.
• Awesome Animal Builder (Primary): Teaches easy coding by having kids create their own animal.
• Hackasaurus (Primary & Secondary): Manipulate websites with this fun online tool.
• Hummingbird Robotics kit (Secondary): Programme a control board and make your own robot.
• Paper Critters (Primary & Secondary): An app to make your own paper critters, print them out, and build them like origami!
• 3Doodler (Primary & Secondary): A 3D printing pen.
• Build Your Wild Self (Primary): Students create a digital human and add animal characteristics.
• Interactive Art at the Chicago Institute of Art (Primary): Students create their own masks online.
• Jackson Pollock by Miltos Manetas (Primary & Secondary): Students create their own Jackson Pollock painting. To save, printscreen.
• KerPoof Studio (Primary): Students create animated stories. Lesson Plans included
• PicassoHead (Primary & Secondary): Take on the challenge of cubism and create a portrait in the style of Picasso.
• National Gallery of Art NGAKids Art Zone (Primary & Secondary): Lots of ways to create and interact with art.
• Build Your Own Kaleidoscope (Primary & Secondary): Simple way to create kaleidoscope. Great for teaching symmetry.
• PsykoPaint (Primary & Secondary): Digital photography painting tool; paint like the masters!
• Aviary (Primary & Secondary): Photo editor.
• SumoPaint (Secondary): Graphics editor; advanced alternative to PhotoShop and Corel.
• Tate Kids Games (Primary): Graffiti creator and paint easel.
• Viscosity (Secondary): Abstract art creator.