Assignment 10/4- Reading Takeaways.

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One reading take away, was the idea of "creative coding." What does creative coding entails? Why is coding creative? Well, artists have been using coding to break up with the norms, and creative coding is the way artist get to think about how to introduce programming into their practice. (we are the best at that) Artists, no matter the age, want coding that instead of being a bunch of linear words that cant be hard to understand (HTML...) and be accessible, visible and creative. It is so interesting when artists and computer scientists come together some new visual platforms start to emerge.

Scratch is one platform that connects the visual aesthetics with coding. In Peppler's article, it points out how it is an easy medium, specially for teenagers because of how rich the program is, visually, educationally, and accessible. Scratch was created in MIT. It is a free website that enables you to either add your own characters to the interface, draw them, upload pre-exiting images to the file, and create videos, video games,  add sound, and many more. The idea is that you create your own coding that will animate whatever you have in the placement, there are pre-existing commands that will let you do this, and by experimenting and testing this commands, captivating things can happen. Creative coding can easily be seen in this coding program, by the way that they can shift it into their own artistic means.

The second reading takeaway is about the Maker movement. I believe that this idea of being a maker, creating a cross-discipline making classrooms is so important for the present and the future. Like Martines and Stager point out: " The best way to activate your classroom is for your students to make something." I enjoy how much encouragement this reading gives to the teachers whom do not have much expertise into electronics, or tinkering studios, or fab labs and you can make your own. What it is important is to have students become familiar to the unfamiliar by introducing familiar materials to learn in unfamiliar ways. For example, conductive paint! The idea that you can draw an image, and then if added lights or any other motor, it will create an action. 

This reading also talks about Caine's arcade, which I previously knew about. This boy created an entire arcade made out of cardboard (and tape). I personally love how his passion took over, and now there is even a global cardboard challenge ( https://cardboardchallenge.com/ ) where classrooms can register and build new either arcade games, inventions, artifacts. This whole idea goes beyond just building, but finding a creative way, and idea, an function that can take place with regular materials to make them extraordinary. The results are incredible, yet so easy to find the materials. 

This are some images of cardboard ideas of the cardboard challenge: 

An arcade game made out of cardboard.

Global Cardboard challenge.

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EVEN MAKING A CITY ALL OUT OF CARDBOARD.

Cardboard challenge @ River Market

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ps... this is a list of suggested materials to create the cardboard challenge: http://cainesarcade.com/suggested-materials/