Our PLAYshops are dedicated to playful learning with creative materials. Using a maker-centered learning framework, we explore tinkering, collaboration, and design with a variety of tools and technologies. Each PLAYshop invites participants to share their own ideas, artifacts, stories, and experiences. We’ll use this collaborative experience to explore how to design learning-through-making experiences that are interest-driven and equitable for young people.
All Playshops begin at 8:30am with a light breakfast for those joining us in person and the fun happens from 9am - 12pm for all participants. We’re located at 1595 S Chestnut Ave, Fresno, CA 93702 on the campus of Fresno Pacific University.
We’ve partnered with Fresno Pacific University to provide an optional paid 1-2 unit CE Course for attending 4-6 of our Playshops this year. You can find the details, requirements, and payment options for those units through the links below. Note: Registering for the Playshop series does not automatically register you for these units. Please see FPU’s website as well as the course details for more information.
What characters and stories do we see in the shadows?
Objectives:
Explore shadows.
Make shapes and design with shadows.
Build a light box and use it to explore the art and science of light.
Tinker with various light sources, colors of light, combinations of colors, and the shadows that can be produced.
Understand the forces involved in construction.
Build simple structures like a bridge and a tower
Build a more complex object utilizing tensegrity
Explore the integration between Art and Mathematics involving tessellations.
Learn the steps involved in creating your own tessellation.
Design, create, and share your very own tessellation with the other participants.
All learning is embodied. Learners draw on bodily resources as they develop conceptual understanding grounded in physical environments.
Integrated STEAM experiences are critical for today’s learners.
Play is a vehicle for learning that supports imagination, creativity, and productive cycles of failure.
Narratives and storytelling throughout play support meaning-making and language development.
Mathematics and science are culturally-embedded practices. Learning opportunities should be culturally-relevant and inclusive of multimodal ways of knowing and doing.
Exploring electrical circuits basics using copper tape as a conductive wire.
Understanding how a LED bulb, battery, and switch work within an electrical circuit.
Designing different electrical circuits to light up both 2D and 3D paper craft designs.
How can we use simple levers to help tell our stories?
Build one-bar, two-bar and three-bar lever devices.
Apply artistic design to the devices to create characters and stories.
Explore vehicles that are moved by various means of propulsion.
Build several types of vehicles.
Tinker with designs to create vehicles which match a variety of objectives.
Aims Center for Math and Science Education
