No. 74 — They All Saw A Computer ⫶ Lavender Velvet ⫶ Inventing Kindergarten
To draw what they could not see
My name is Linda. I write a bi-weekly newsletter about computer science, childhood, and culture.
Encouraging children to draw is teaching them to look and to think. Drawing promotes insights and the power of perception. It makes different perspectives visible. A few weeks ago, I finally got to do the “They All Saw a Cat” workshop with kindergarteners.
After reading the book, I asked the children to draw pictures showing how they see a cat. Then, they needed to imagine how a computer or an algorithm might see a cat. Essentially, I asked them to draw what they could not see.
I told the children upfront that I didn’t have answers. If I did, they would imitate me, listening to how I think. Psychologists call this observational learning or learning from testimony. And anyway, I wasn’t interested in getting “a correct” answer. A realistic drawing can, of course, be helpful, but such a drawing remains always a picture of something else.
The drawings show a weirder world, sometimes spikier, full of pixels, sometimes softer, all googly eyes. I love how the cat in some pictures turns upside down, in some expands over the box. In some drawings the computer is present (sometimes even within the cat), but in many, the feeling of the cat is just different.
What the children were showing, it occurred to me, was not conformity, fear, or limitations of AI but a vision of future brimming with energy and direction.
See also:
No. 68 — They All Saw a Cat ⫶ How Big is YouTube? ⫶ Moonbound
No. 08 — On Drawing 🖍️ What's Inside a Computer 📒 Sketching with a neural network
No. 29 — David Hockney 👀 But to see like this 🐈 They All Saw a Cat
No. 57 - The First Artificial Intelligence Coloring Book ⫶ Bayesian Forest ⫶ East Coast 24'
The drawings come from kindergarten students at John Kerr and Frederick County Public Schools. A big thank you for Jennifer, Pam, Amy and Jenny for creating such wonderful days of learning and sharing and Thea for running the workshop with your students!
Linked List
In computer science, a linked list is a linear collection of data elements whose order is not given by their physical placement in memory. But here it is a selection of things I’ve been reading lately.
Lawrence Weschler on Norman Brosterman’s Inventing Kindergarten. It is one of my favorite books, analyzed by one of my favorite writers. Inventing Kindergarten starts with a history of where kindergartens came from: “just patterns and patternings (remember, Froebel started out as a crystallographer): a sequential exposition of and exposure to form and the formful.” Then, it takes a leap into art history, and it’s a delightful one.
The New Museum of Architecture and Design seeks to design a globally unique museum building that redefines Helsinki as a destination for architecture, design, arts, and culture. The design will be selected through an open, international, and anonymous competition held in two stages.
Peggy Gou’s 1+1=11. Peggy Gou and Olafur Eliasson!! Lavender velvet! The dance moves! (I’ve read Eliasson’s recounts from his youth dancing, but I had never seen it on video.)
Classroom
I’m hoping to surface and share stories from all of you and I’d love to see your creations! Here are a few teachers using Ruby in creative, fun and inspiring ways.
Thank you to Annabel, who spotted Hello Ruby in Renaissance's What Kids Are Reading report. I never knew about ATOS levels and AR points, but they are fascinating. There is also a quiz on the book! (A book that is a decade old in futuristic finds is also pretty neat.)
This post has so many clever ideas. I love the picture of all the staff and all the kids dancing at the end.
I've always come to wait for STEAM Lab Taiwan's summer school. This year's theme is adventure maps, and the camp takes place around Taipei. I can't wait to see the Hello Ruby portion!
