Übercrawl

Author: robert lewis

  • Deep Dive

    The authority to sponsor an apprenticeship program in New York lies not with the Regents, but the Department of Labor. For example, the Industrial Commissioner of the NY DOL registered the NYC Electricians apprenticeship program in 1943.

    this process of differentiation and specialization has taken place chaotically, without clear and precise principles, without a well thought out and consciously fixed plan.

    , The Organization of Education and Culture

    From the Wagner Laws, back to the guilds, the “mysteries of the trades” have been closely guarded secrets, chartered by the kings of England as monopolies in exchange for income to the Crown. See, e.g., ,

    Sharing knowledge from one trade local to another has always been difficult for our learning community. Sharing curriculum with others not sworn to a labor union is next to impossible. Hence, we still teach in the classroom like it’s 1899.

    When COVID hit, it became clear to me that we journeymen must figure out ways to bring our teaching methods into the 21st century, without losing our authenticity enframed within our communities of practice. Teaching an apprentice how to hammer a nail in a Zoom class simply doesn’t work.

    What we need to do is simulate real life problems journeymen face on worksite, in a classroom setting. Microworld may be a solution to this problem. There is nothing “secret” about organizing pieces of a puzzle, so taisez vous need not apply. But constructionist principles will get students out of their chairs, and this kind of learning environment is closer to how learning really happens on a worksite.

    home
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  • Sketch

    “Version 1” of my microworld was my MSTU 5027 project titled, “the lights don’t work.” It’s the most common job an electrician has, showing up on a worksite with the simple instruction of getting the lights back on. He has to troubleshoot where the short circuit is, and if it’s an old building, make sure the current is to code. The cardboard tiles on the right are various resistors to place on the punch out to complete the circuit. The goal is to get the amperage to the correct value using the resistors. There’s also a potentiometer on the underside that serves the same function.

    I’m perfectly fine reiterating on that project. But I have another idea that might be better: using tessellation tiles. The learning objectives are still the same: polarity, electricity flow, series and parallel circuits, leading to Kirchoff’s rules. But maybe I could make tiles (battery, conductive tape/wire, resistors and LEDs) that the learner could make patterns from, that create real circuits to apply a multimeter to various places on the circuit. The game remains the same: you have to make a circuit within specified amperage tolerances, and make series and parallel circuits to answer questions about how electricity flows through them.

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  • AI Chatbox

    Prompts

    GenAI

  • Chibitronics

    纸 . 电路 . 示意图 . 更好的 . 理解

    Paper circuit kits, like Chibitronics, , can broaden participation in technology creation.

    Introductory electrical theory activities include polarity, current flow, and connection grounding. These activities can be scaffolded into developing more complex mental models, like the design and production of printed circuit boards (PCBs), including floorplanning, placement of electronic components and routing.

    Designing with material syntonicity in mind respects the sensations apprentices experience performing computational operations.

    “Passing through” is a helpful metaphor to visualize an electrical circuit.

    Novices often can’t internalize looking at circuit components and wires on a breadboard, so to match that body synonicity with a circuit schematic printout.

    Circuit stickers can provide a practical alternative to traditional breadboarding and custom PCBs.

    The shapes of the stickers can be designed to be graphical representations of the function of the electronic elements so that users could “read” how to connect the sticker, and translate the physical sticker to an electrical component on a schematic.

    Attaching the paper circuit to a microprocessor opens opportunities for coding.

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  • 10: Design → Delivery

    10: Design → Delivery

    For the first time in my attenuated life, I am delivering a course in 

    Digital Life Skills
    • 3 classes (every November Friday afternoon)
    • 3 hours each
    • 3 students at each of 5 tables.

    I will deliver the curriculum via our website, diglit.cwelms.org, designed for a smart phone, class assignments posted to Padlet, for collective feedback. In the physical classroom, a projector will beam to a 10′ x 25′ wall, where our 15 students can comfortably view their work.

    At our last meeting, I was wisely advised to identify which chunks I already have on hand, and which I haven’t. Two meetings ago, I realized I didn’t have any “arcs” running through my three classes. I chose to design a phone video shoot, expressing comedic relief to banal frustrations we all experience when dealing with government bureaucracy, across the 3 classes.

    The development of the first class I definitely have locked in, most of the second. This weekend I will produce all of the materials needed for them.

    I’ve also more-or-less worked out another arc: an iterative process for students to hone various digital skills throughout the themes of the several classes.

    Week #1

    Iterate x on [MOOC class, job posting, NewEgg computer]

    1. Imagine something in x you have interest in.
    2. Translate your interests into “drop down” categories on an x website.
    3. Make queries/research to explore your interest.
    4. /Padlet your findings.

    Week #2

    Iterate array x on [Child Care, Voter Registration, Social Security, NY State of Health, NYC mycity, library card, …]

    1. Imagine something in x that you want to use to improve your quality of life (“QoL”).
    2. Translate QoL into a list of personal data you need to complete x‘s online forms.
    3. /text and /Padlet your list.

    These iterations are hardly creative, except when compared to existing “Digital Life Skills” programs. For example, in an apartment a few blocks from where I live, a “Digital Life Skills” program is delivered every year. A cursory look reveals its didactivism. Surely, I can enhance delivery of needed skills my community desires, with my project in this class.

    The Padlet function is initiated when a student takes a picture of a laptop screen displaying a product from an above iteration, posted to a Padlet, answering some queries as well. The posts will be arranged and projected to the 10′ x 25′ wall for collective feedback.

    The text function is an heuristic: store information on your phone that is _not_ a snapshot. Download an app that you can

    1. open a file
    2. type information
    3. save and retrieve

    The third class I’ve struggled with for months now. I know it has to do with how you can/want/should/ought to situate yourself online. My biggest problem is knowing I am an extreme outlier concerning social media et.al.

    For example, discussing The Algorithm would be an appropriate topic, but it’s difficult for me to design an activity without revealing my Luddite intentions, that we should get off platforms entirely, and return to the telnet tcp/ip days.

    And how to make a lesson about proper uses of social media a creative endeavor, preferably using the iterative process described above?

  • 5: Our minds, when inventing?

    5: Our minds, when inventing?

    My Father’s Patents
    My Father’s Patents

    My father ran R&D at Armstrong World Industries for decades, until a couple of years after the “quarterly earnings report” culture set in. After three reorganizations, he resigned before following orders and doing a fourth.
    .

    My mother died last year. I spent this past summer throwing out even more weight than the kitchen sink. (🙌I cleared out half the house!) Right now, my father’s patents are next to his fraternity framed pictures, his bowling team league trophy, his bar lamp and his father’s carpentry tools.
    .
    He had a B.S. degree in Chemistry, me in Chemical Engineering. But our degrees feel different than his patents. They feel like talismans.

    Factors
    List some factors that may have contributed to [my father’s] development as an inventor

    .
    Earthiness

    Manipulator

    Renegade
    .

    Reflection

    The Chetty article makes me wonder where my own inventfulness stems. My father never brought me to his office, very rarely talked about Armstrong, and when he did it was mostly about fellow employees or corporate culture. Even though he has boxes of books (dare I throw them out?) on Industrial Process Management, that topic only came up when he was criticizing how our country’s innovation culture began being sacrificed in the 1980s.
    .
    When I’m aware that I might be doing something innovative, I sense it first as a visceral, guttural reaction. A feeling of pride, demonstrating my expert craftiness working in the medium.
    Not being dependent on Big Data, Dirty Energy,
    and all the other big words.

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