Blog Post #3 Digital Curation Tools

Through this week's readings, my eyes were opened to the importance of planning learning experiences that require higher order thinking. In Jennifer Gonzalez's article, To Boost Higher-Order Thinking, Try Curation, she highlights that "curation has a ton of potential as an academic task." She states that "In an age where information is ubiquitous and impossible to consume all at once, we rely on the curation of others to help us process it all." Through this article, I learned that curation projects have the potential to put students at work at three different levels on Bloom's Taxonomy- understand, analyze, and evaluate. Gonzalez's article emphasizes that critical thinking is one of the 4 C's listed as an essential skill for students in the modern age and well-designed curation projects require lots of critical thinking.

Squishy Circuits

After this week's lecture and readings, I was led to examine a piece of technology hardware for its potential pedagogical functions. Squishy Circuits were something that I was not familiar with, but they instantly grabbed my attention as something that primary and elementary school students would be interested in. 

 

Image Description: A black square box with an on and off switch connected by one black wire and one red wire to two separate rolls of red conductive dough. The red wire (+) from the battery is connected to roll one and the black wire (-) is connected to roll two. 

What are Squishy Circuits?

Squishy Circuits use conductive and insulating play dough to teach the basics of electrical circuits, a perfect blend of play and learning! Our play dough kits, projects, and recipes teach problem solving and engineering concepts and inspire creativity and independent thinking (squishycircuits, 2024). 

Check out the Squishy Circuit Website to learn more about bringing play dough creating to life, as they light up, beep, spin, and more! 

Here you can find the Dough Recipes for how to make play dough insulating and conductive. 

This YouTube video teaches viewers how to create more conductive dough for creations.

Below is a TedTalk YouTube video that highlights Squishy Circuits and their founder, AnnMarie Thomas. Thomas explains how she came up with the idea and encourages viewers to grab some Play-doh, salt, and sugar and start playing!

Technology Enabled Learning Model 

A technology-enabled learning model that coincides with Squishy Circuits is the R.A.T. Model. As learned through Module 5, R.A.T is an assessment framework for understanding technology's role in teaching, learning and curricular practices. The primary purpose of R.A.T was to introduce it as a self-assessment for preservice and inservice teachers to increase critical technological decision-making (Hughes, 2018 ).

The idea of Squishy Circuits relates to that of technology serving as a different means to the same instructional practices. Squishy Circuits increase efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity of the same instructional practices. Squishy Circuits were created with the intent to invent new instruction and learning. 

Keeping the R.A.T. Model in mind, educators are able to use Squishy Circuits as a means of replacing, amplifying, and transforming their lessons. The use of circuit building activities with play dough are intended for children and eliminate the need for soldering or breadboards. Squishy Circuits make it possible to introduce simple circuit concepts, as well as quickly incorporate movement and light into sculptures to young children. 

How can Squishy Circuits be used in K-12 Settings?

"Exciting learning experiences can occur when children are engaged with materials, not just through simple interaction, but through designing, creating, and inventing" (Johnson & Thomas, 2010).

Squishy Circuits were created as a result of the founder acknowledging that children learn better when they're having fun! Squishy Circuits are able to teach science, technology, and engineering through play. While the target age to introduce electrical circuits by using Squishy Circuits is grades 3-5, younger children can learn with the assistance of their teacher or older buddies. Older students are also able to use Squishy Circuits for coding and physical properties like resistance. Squishy Circuits are aligned to NGSS Standards. 

This Educator's Guide highlights learning objectives and standards for educators. 

Sample Lesson

Helpful Links to Squishy Circuit Resources

By visiting Squishy Circuit Projects you will be able to gain ideas for Squishy Circuit projects. 

Click here to find out how to use the Components of Squishy Circuits

Check out Squishy Circuits: A Tangible Medium for Electronics Education to learn more about the design of a circuit building activity for children.

References

Gonzalez, J. (2017, April 15). To boost higher-order thinking, try curations. 2024 Cult of Pedagogy. https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/curation/ 

Hughes, J. (2018). Replacement, amplification, and transformation: The R.A.T. model. Tech Edges. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20180830171822/http://techedges.org/r-a-t-model/ 

Johnson, S. & Thomas, AM.P. (2010, April 10). Squishy circuits: A tangible medium for electronics education. Publication History. https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/1753846.1754109 

Play dough circuit kits. Squishy Circuits (2024). https://squishycircuits.com/

Thomas, A.M. (2011, April 4). AnnMarie Thomas: Hands on science with squishy circuits. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M3Dow20KlM