projects

Here are a few of the independent projects that people have worked on with the support of CfL. We also have designed a number of outreach activities specifically for our work with community groups.

The BEAM. Balancing Equations by Adapting Manipulatives is a tangible user interface designed to help teach mathematical concepts. This research considers the role of Montessori pedagogy and traditions in the design of new, digitally enhanced educational manipulative materials. The BEAM is designed to enhance children's relational understanding of equality. The BEAM itself is constructed from wood and contains 18 Lego Technic connectors with 36 wires mapping these positions to an Arduino Mega board. Each pebble contains an embedded Dallas Semiconductor One-Wire chip with an ID# as well as the same Lego Technic connectors for stable connection to one another, as well as the BEAM.

---

FormulaT Racing. Video game environments provide open spaces where low-stakes experimentation becomes not only very possible but highly motivating. The goal of FormulaT Racing is to leverage intuitive ways of thinking about the world to move students to a more expert-like way of understanding the quantities of velocity and acceleration.

---

NetLogo / Wiimote Interface. We have developed and continue to refine and add features to the NetLogo Wiimote Extension, which enables the wiimote and potentially other Nintendo interface devices to interact with NetLogo models.