Write a “Gears” essay – a short essay on “evocative” objects from your childhood/youth which have had an important impact on your intellectual life, in the same spirit of Papert’s foreword to his book Mindstorms – available here:
This is a typical assignment in constructionist course and many collections of such essays have been published by MIT Press. One of them is the book Evocative Objects by Sherry Turkle. We have made the book available to you; please do not distribute outside of this class. You can download the book here.
As preparation for this assignment, read the Introduction and 2-3 chapters from Turkle's book.
Your task:
Write an essay in Google Docs and upload a link to Canvas (due Tuesday at 11:59 PM). Make sure you set permissions so we can comment on your document. The essay should have more or less the same length as the one from Papert or the ones from Turkle's book–800-1000 words–but we are flexible if you want to write more. Feel free to add pictures/videos and other media.
Rubric – this is how we will assess your essay:
Approaches expectations
- Short and vague
- Object/experience/idea chosen is not evocative or generative
- Object/experience/idea chosen does not relate to meaningful learning or educational experiences
Meets expectations
- Describes experiences in a precise and meaningful way
- Object/experience/idea chosen is evocative or generative, and parallels well with Papert's Gears essay