From Education

MuSe

Project Description:
MuSe was designed as an introductory music toy designed in the spring quarter of 2009. Muse has undergone 8 prototype revisions and more than 10 user tests. Music teachers and musicians were also consulted during the making of MuSe. The resulting product is a simple and flexible toy for kids to play with while learning about music.

MuSe sought to help kids learn the concept of pitch. Our target audience were kids ages 3 to 5. MuSe was designed with multiple modes of play in mind and can be played by an individual or a group, either at home or at school.

The finished MuSe product had 3 modes of play.

  • In the ‘listen and play’ mode, muse plays a tone and then checks if the user’s input matched the last pitch. If the pitch matches the tone is played and the player is rewarded. If it does not match the player is urged to try again.
  • In the Improvise Play session a melody is played in the key of C. The student can play over this for as long as they wish. Students also have the choice to turn the music off so that just their notes are heard.
  • In Complete the Melody the player is first presented with a simple melody. They are then played the same melody except for the last pitch. The students must play the correct pitch to move on to another melody.

Tangible Turtle

An aspect of the original logo that always stuck around with me was the presence of a physical turtle that would obey the commands it was given. I always felt that this made programing in logo that much more impacting because something in the physical world responded to the commands issued in the program. In Tangible Turtle I decided to make the commands tangible instead. I chose to do this for many reasons centered around the idea that tangible objects would be easier to relate to than a computer program. This is especially true for younger children and those who are not comfortable using a computer. With tangible commands users would not have to worry about syntax or spelling, two things that often discourage people who are starting to program.

WikiWorld

Project Description:
There are many things that can be missed if we simply do not take the time to reflect on the world around us. Often times people cannot engage themselves at sites of interest and do not learn about the the site as a result. WikiWorld encourages users to ask, and find answers to, things that they are interested in. Through the use of geo tagging, a user’s question persists at the spot it was asked. Other users who pass by the question can then share their knowledge by answering the question, or expand their knowledge by reading other users responses.

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Created by Dennis Ramirez – 2009