Graduating with My Masters

Well, it's been a long road, but I'm finally done.

A month after Emmett was born, I presented my Creative Work Project to the Design and Industry Department.

It went very well, and I'm happy to report that I graduated with my MAIA in December 2009. But, this saturday I'll be attending the Commencement ceremony, and saying my final goodbye to San Francisco State University; I leave the excitement of the university to those 15 years younger than me... :)

You can see my project here. I must profusely thank Ms. Alicia McHale of Allen Elementary in San Bruno, California for welcoming me into her classroom and acting as an advisor to the project.

If you're wondering what the project entailed, I was responsible for conception, design and development. That included:
- logos

- layout

- coding

- editing blogger templates

- editing content

- creating animations (storyboards, accompanying audio, and timing adjustments)



It was alot of work - I was a one person educational web dev team!

Lake Tahoe

Up in Tahoe at a nice little place called the Bear's Den. Worked on my thesis - customizing a blogger template (which isn't too hard once you get into the code) and listening to Steve and Ray debate the value of privacy to the individual in terms of what they choose to post on social networking sites like Facebook, etc... It's very interesting to hear two very different points of view. I know that privacy is generally not even considered by "younger" people - but it's surprising to hear a peer feel this way too...

Don't Drink the BTB

Diagram provided by Benjah-bmm27

Today the 5th grade class I'm observing as research for my masters degree was AWESOME!!! Thank you Ms. McHale's students!

We did a hands-on experiment where they used Bromothymol Blue (BTB) to observe the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in water and how that level changed over time - a nice elodea plant was good enough to take in the CO2 and return O2 to the water.

Bromothymol Blue pH indicator dye in an acidic, neutral, and alkaline solution (left to right) provided by bfesser.

The kids are amazing. Super excited. All of them (with the exception of a few) stayed on target with the steps of the lab. It's awesome to be able to volunteer and help them out with the steps of the lab and offer advice and answer questions.


I can definitely see how and why science education gets the short end of the time stick. It takes dedication to want to set-up, execute and take down experiments. BUT, the enthusiasm and engagement of students demonstrates to me that science can succeed in the classroom. The right resources need to be provided to elementary teachers.

Thank you Wikipedia for the photos. Wikimedia Commons RULES!

Gaming As A Tool for Learning

Here is an interesting interview with Arizona State University professor James Paul Gee about the value and purpose of gaming as a mechanism to teach and encourage inquiry.