Caffeine Crazed Youth Waste lives “Gaming”

Jane McGonigal’s findings

• Urgent Optimism

And…

• Social Fabric

Maybe also…

• Epic Meaning

But definitely

• Blissful Productivity

A previous Scene

• Willunga Waldorf School• Steiner Philosophy• Strong focus on observation• Imagination is king• Emphasis on fine motor skills• Spirituality is OK• Oh soooo hippy?

Dan Pink’s “Whole New Mind”

• Design

• Story

• Symphony

• Empathy

• Play

• Meaning

Collisions

• The adolescent drivers were clearly evident in the ASMS students and encapsulated the student culture.

• The broad holistic curriculum existed in full force at the Waldorf school and had become the way of thinking about learning for students.

• What would be the result of merging the set of drivers found by Jane McGonigal with the curriculum forms derived from Dan Pink’s work ?

A first application

• I was asked to develop a “probability project” for the yr 10-11 mathematics classes while I was working simultaneously on the Pink and McGonigal ideas and noticed that perspectives from both of these kept intruding on the way in which I created the task.

• A post analysis of the task showed signs of how the framework could be applied to attaining both student engagement and curriculum cover

Design Story Symphony Empathy Play Meaning

Urgent Optimism

Can do-Must do

Materials are designed to be engaging

Situate in a student related context

Challenge presented in a range of ways

Emotional impacts are clear in task

Humour is used in framing the task

Maths is clearly needed to resolve

Social Fabric

Social engagement

Create shared visions of product

Create shared sense of context

Tease out all possible elements to pursue

Allocate tasks on basis of aptitude

Brain-Storm what’s possible

The math is under-stood by all

Epic Meaning

Empowerment

The form motivates the doing

The story reflects the import of maths

Many feeds of info’ and display forms

Individual’s perspectives are sought and are present

Elements selected to draw meaning

Social justice issues

Blissful Productivity

The doing

Elements evolve to enhance under-standing

Framing and filling the story

Pull together many elements to show

Emotions connect to the maths

Creative elements polished for final product

Clear messages and learning

Content Sorting

• Topic: Sequence and Series• Grab-bag of activities• Most sort into strings of connected actions

and concepts• The process is to run the string through the

perspectives of the teacher and the student• Questions are raised about engagement v’s

coverage

Islamic Art Thread

• Geometric constructions lead to important numbers and sequences (golden ratio, surds, iterations, symmetry, area and length calculations).

• Each student makes their own geometric design as a printing stamp.

• The stamps are then used to form a class mural.

Design Story Symphony Empathy Play Meaning

Urgent Optimism

Solutions are required which

are aesthetically pleasing as well as functional and sustainable. An artistic eye is

brought to tasks.

Stories/narratives are used to

create shared visions and ways

to understand contexts, issues and problems.

Discovering the many

representations of an idea and

using a range of ways to express

and connect concepts.

Emotional connection to the circumstances of the problem and the situation of

individuals empowers

deeper thinking and action

A state of playfulness with

notions allows for more flexible and

divergent thinking.Implied also is physical engagement.

People are deeply motivated by pursuing tasks

relating to powerful human

meaning

Students want to see

themselves as potent and

able to act with positive effect immediately

I can experiment with the basic geometric routines to make a pattern which I can turn into a printing block . This could be achieved very quickly. I can see myself doing this. And I have to look at symmetry and balance.

I need to be able to experiment with the construction techniques, look for symmetries, decide on a colouring to make the design, build the design as a printing block and learn how to make a successful print I

Once I get how the basic patterns are made I can play with these ideas to see what sorts of permutations and combinations are possible. I could see if by carefully choosing a colouring I can make specific images.

My design has some important numbers embedded in it. I can use mathematics to find these for my pattern

Design Story Symphony Empathy Play Meaning

Social Fabric

Solutions are required which

are aesthetically pleasing as well as functional and sustainable. An artistic eye is

brought to tasks.

Stories/narratives are used to

create shared visions and ways

to understand contexts, issues and problems.

Discovering the many

representations of an idea and

using a range of ways to express

and connect concepts.

Emotional connection to the circumstances of the problem and the situation of

individuals empowers

deeper thinking and action

A state of playfulness with

notions allows for more flexible and

divergent thinking.Implied also is physical engagement.

People are deeply motivated by pursuing tasks

relating to powerful human

meaning

Students are motivated by having a role

and connection to

others in groups

I am expected to get my design up and running so I can work with a subgroup to see how it can integrate with theirs. I’ll need to work efficiently on my design and in negotiating with the others on how to fit this all together

I need to be aware of the feelings of other members of the group when suggesting how different patterns should be juxtopposed.

I need to work playfully with the other members of the group, be prepared to shed favourite ideas and look at the task of arranging our printing as a collective decison

Design Story Symphony Empathy Play Meaning

Epic Meaning

Solutions are required which

are aesthetically pleasing as well as functional and sustainable. An artistic eye is

brought to tasks.

Stories/narratives are used to

create shared visions and ways

to understand contexts, issues and problems.

Discovering the many

representations of an idea and

using a range of ways to express

and connect concepts.

Emotional connection to the circumstances of the problem and the situation of

individuals empowers

deeper thinking and action

A state of playfulness with

notions allows for more flexible and

divergent thinking.Implied also is physical engagement.

People are deeply motivated by pursuing tasks

relating to powerful human

meaning

Ambitious notions of

deep significance to

students

I can understand that we are tuned to find particular proportions to be intrinsically attractive and that is part of the “wiring” of the human mind

I get that these geometries were devised as an artistic but mathematically complex system 1000 years plus. The stuff I see on TV in the mosques and the likes is not just any pattern . I can figure some of the complexity

These designs show me that the mathematics has a kind of beauty and can be expressed in many forms. Many forms of expression which we find intrinsically appealing may have mathematical connecitons.

I can think of mathematics as a component of what we experience to be beautiful and that mathematical relationships have their own beauty.

I like the way that being in a playful state of mind makes it easier to make ideas and simpler to discard them. I’d not thought of playfulness as being so productive

I can see how cultures have been fascinated by what combinations of shapes link together and how important the special numbers must have seemed. That these numbers keep turning up in natural system is very curious.

Design Story Symphony Empathy Play Meaning

Blissful Productivity

Solutions are required which

are aesthetically pleasing as well as functional and sustainable. An artistic eye is

brought to tasks.

Stories/narratives are used to

create shared visions and ways

to understand contexts, issues and problems.

Discovering the many

representations of an idea and

using a range of ways to express

and connect concepts.

Emotional connection to the circumstances of the problem and the situation of

individuals empowers

deeper thinking and action

A state of playfulness with

notions allows for more flexible and

divergent thinking.Implied also is physical engagement.

People are deeply motivated by pursuing tasks

relating to powerful human

meaning

Tasks and processes assume

students will devote time

and energy to achieve

I can feel driven to work with great care on my design and turning it in to a physical reality.

I can see that this whole process will make an impression on me, it will become a kind of motivating story in my life. I did this so I can do that kind of thing

I am fascinated by the way in which I can experiment again and again with simple geometric procedures to make a complex and beautiful result. I find my mind absorbed by this complexity from simplicity

The thought that what I will make will surprise me in its design and form makes me want to put effort into the task

I like the idea of going from an idea which is mathematical to an object which I can feel is beautiful by playing with possibilities until I am satisfied that what I wanted expressed has been created

I feel like a mathematical artist? Playing with mathematics which seems like deep stuff and making designs which I can enjoy.