Dear College of Science Faculty and Staff,
How was your Thanksgiving? I hope peaceful, delicious, and hands-in. My family is into crafts, interesting items we make, where the process may be as important as the outcome. During a crafts activity, there’s time to learn a skill, while enjoying the coziness of using our hands together. This year, we painted rocks! It was fun, challenging and my two rocks are attractive reminders of the holiday.
Extending crafts into how we educate gives another opportunity to meet the challenges of education in the era of generative AI. Classwork or homework that involves something like a craft can be effective and memorable. I taught with Model Magic clay for some years, which I like because it dries clean and bounces! My students were challenged to build a sculpture of the first cell divisions in an embryo, that magically set the stage for forming the entire person, frog or worm. They could take the sculptures home and explain to their roommates what these were, in the process learning more themselves. When I taught ‘morphogenesis’, the amazing processes by which cells collaborate to create structures - like your nose or brain - I would award nose-pencil sharpeners as prizes for an in class mini-quiz, again opening opportunities for discussion outside class.
Ideas for crafts-based learning can go far. ‘Goodie Bags’ were developed by Prof. Jeffrey Grossman to teach solid state chemistry at MIT. These evolved into a popular weekly series of problems based on the contents of a take-home bag. The Goodie Bags took significant preparation time and funding was needed for the materials. Across the ocean, at Ashesi University in Ghana, mechanical engineer Prof. Heather Beem has developed a similar concept, emphasizing indigenous, freely available materials, through the Practical Education Network.
Such activities have two outcomes – the student learns in a fun way and can teach their family or others what they’re learning, so solidifying their own understanding. None of these activities uses Gen AI, and each helps teachers meet the challenge of higher education. Do you use crafts-based approaches in your course? Please share what you do, and we’ll feature your innovations across the College of Science.
Warm wishes to everyone.