Cultivating computational thinking and computational creativity in the classroom
August 8-11, 2012
A summer workshop for K-12 teachers
Organized by the MIT Media Lab, in collaboration with Google's CS4HS initiative

Overview

Are you interested in helping your students:

  • imagine new possibilities of what they can do with computers?
  • learn to express themselves creatively with new technologies?
  • explore computational ideas through personally-meaningful projects?

At the Creative Computing workshop, we'll explore new educational technologies and instructional strategies to engage students in creative design activities -- and, in the process, help students develop as computational thinkers and computational creators.

The workshop will feature technologies developed at the MIT Media Lab, with presentations and demonstrations by Media Lab researchers. Hands-on sessions will focus on Scratch, an easy-to-use programming environment that enables students to create interactive stories, games, animations, and simulations. As students create and share Scratch projects, they learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively -- while also learning important mathematical and computational ideas.

The workshop, which will take place at the MIT Media Lab, will begin with an evening event on Wednesday, August 8, and continue with three full-day sessions on August 9-11. Participants are asked to bring their own laptops, if possible.

The workshop is open to all media specialists, technology coordinators, computer-science teachers, and others who focus on the integration of new technologies into elementary, middle, and high school classrooms.

Schedule

In the workshop, we will explore computational ideas through a series of hands-on Scratch workshops. The activities will span several different genres of creating with Scratch: art, stories, and games.


  Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
8:30-9:00 Breakfast Breakfast Breakfast
9:00-12:30 Workshop 1: Art Workshop 3: Games Independent Project
12:30-1:30 Lunch Lunch Lunch
1:30-5:00 Workshop 2: Stories Independent Project Scratch Educator Panel
Show & Tell
5:00-8:00 Event Overview
Kick-Off Dinner		 Media Lab Tour
Dinner and Guest Speakers		 Dinner Excursion

Apply

Workshop participants will be selected randomly by a lottery process. Obtain a free ticket for the participant raffle on our Eventbrite page. The deadline to enter the raffle is Monday, May 21. Selected participants will be notified by Monday, May 28.

Cost

The workshop costs $80 per participant -- this covers parking, meals and workshop materials. Housing and travel are not included in the registration fee. If you're looking for a place to stay, MIT on-campus housing is available. Single-occupancy rooms cost $74/night.

Contact

For more information, please email us at cs4hs@media.mit.edu.