The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. The road trip to Pennsylvania was fun and productive, but felt good to get home to my own bed.

2. I finished Season 2 of The Crown. Matt Smith is amazing as HRH Prince Philip.

3. Started a new to us series on Netflix, Travelers

4. Ran some errands and did shopping with The Eldest. She found a dolphin (her favorite animal) shower curtain for her apartment

5. Was a lady who lunched at Via, an Italian restaurant on Shrewsbury St. in Worcester. Had lunch with a former team member from The Art of Science Learning, otherwise know as A Grand Waste of Time.

How was your week?

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1.I cleaned the silverware drawer. No more crumbs. No one has noticed but me, and I've been taking such a perverse pride in the shine that appears when the drawer is opened.

2. The first test of keeping the house company ready happened over the weekend. A college friend of The Young One needed a ride from the airport. She invited him to supper before he returned to WPI.I didn't have to run around in a cleaning frenzy, and the toilet was man clean.

3.Had the last team meeting for the Art of Science Learning.

4. Wednesday was a Red Letter Day. My friend, Red, came back East for a visit. Was so good to see her and have tea with her again. She even brought lunch.

5. I signed up to take a week long illumination and gilding class in March. Fingers crossed the class runs.

How was your week?

The Friday Five Good Things

Whale sculpture courtesy of The Eldest

Five good things that happened this week.

1. First baked treat of the new year I made was blueberry scones. Himself had bought fresh blueberries over the holidays.

2. I'm glad the Worcester Incubator Art of Science Learning project is done.

3. The Young One went to another doctor about her shoulder/neck problem. He was the only doctor who listened to her. Good news, she has excellent range of motion and no nerve damage. He prescribed medication for muscle aches and told her to exercise the shoulder.

4. After running errands, Himself and I stopped for a date lunch at Longhorn Steakhouse. While the decor is still Western, I miss the chaps(especially the ones that looked like Heath wore), tack, and boots that used to decorate the place.

5. I store my kneadable eraser in a plastic egg to keep it clean. When the girlies were little, they liked to surprise me with eraser sculptures. I never knew what creature I would find when I opened the egg. Looks like big girlies never outgrow some things.

How was your week?

Next Steps

Yesterday, was the last workshop for the year long project Art of Science Learning. The last task was the same as the first task we had to complete during the first workshop March 2013.

We were given a box of stuff (pipe cleaners, ribbon, blocks, clay, wire, feathers, etc.) and had to use these items to describe our team project in a process called Metaphorming.

My team, Team V (the letter, not the Roman numeral) created an arts infused STEM curriculum teaching jr. high students with the theme of Transportation. Transportation was the subject chosen by the city of Worcester. Our creation had to be innovative. Our trial lesson was to teach the children the consequences of multi-tasking, such as texting and driving. The children simulated driving by carrying a ball on a spoon. If the ball dropped as they moved around, that signaled an accident. The innovation was teaching without the use of electronic technology. This meant the lesson could be done in the poorest of school districts as the cost of materials was minimal.

Using metaphorming, we had to answer the questions: What have you learned about your ideas? and What are your next steps?

Team V's story began with a group of members represented by feathers. We had a rough patch in the beginning as we lost some team members. You can see the feathers blew off the foam core. The remaining members (popsicle sticks, beads) took some time to regroup. We skidded to a halt and spun our wheels (the curly wire). Eventually, we came together as a team and supported one another (the block tower) as we dove into the project (pink diving bunny). At first our ideas were grand and spun out of control (the ribbbon). We began to simplify our idea (the blue pipe cleaner). We gained another team mate ( pipe cleaner box and orange pipe cleaner arro)who brought some perspective to the project so we could write and test the lesson (ball and spoon and crashed vehicle).

Some of the teams will be launching businesses based on their projects. Team V members agreed we are done.

It was a loooooong project. We didn't really know how much "free" time would have to be donated to reach the end. There was a lot of frustration involved trying to coordinate schedules and refine ideas. Many of us came close to dropping out along the way, but we managed, and finished the project.

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. My Cousin L called. Distance and work keeps us from getting together more often, but we try once a year to meet for lunch. I had car trouble when we were supposed to meet a month or so ago and had to cancel. Her call was to make another date for the beginning of December. So fingers crossed no car trouble or bad weather.

2. Driving home after a meeting and a rainy morning, the clouds parted to reveal a small patch of blue sky and a faint rainbow.

3. What started as a do one cleaning thing turned into a cleaning frenzy in the kitchen.

4. I'm enjoying the process of working on the next painting. More on that later.

5. My Art of Science Learning team had to do a presentation of our project before a Gate panel. The panel will critique our presentation and either give us the go ahead to pass the gate or to refine our idea. Not sure who we did. I think we underwhelmed them, but I'm glad the presentation is over.

How was your week?

Fellows

Spent a couple of hours at the studio of Carrie Crane, the artist in residence for the Art of Science Learning. Carrie will be using some of the statistical data from the Worcester Incubator to create artwork.

Carrie invited the Fellows (that's our title) to her studio to help her out. She wanted us to help her make "Fellows" from found objects.  She's thinking of using the "Fellows" to make an animated feature about our journey in the program.

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. I showed the Eldest to make pizza dough.

2.  Was supposed to have a team meeting after a workshop. My team got all our work done during the workshop so we got to leave early.

3. Himself had recorded the 1939 classic The Four Feathers. The movie has been remade tons of times, but this is the best.

4. The second session of my class is running. Yay!

5. While shopping for carrots to make soup, I heard my mother's voice, "Get a bag with big ones." Made me laugh. Ma hated to peel vegetables and really disliked peeling small ones.

How was your week?

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. The Art of Science Learning Saturday workshops ended. Saturdays are now free time, unless there is a team meeting

2. Skyped with friend, A. Hadn't spoken to her in a long time. Was good to catch up. Another session is planned for next week so we can make art together.

3. Trying to get Himself hooked on Doctor Who. Himself has trouble with the accents, so we watched a few episodes with closed captioning. Not sure he's hooked, yet, but there are still a thousand episodes left to watch.

4. Heavy rains on Wednesday had me worried we'd be taking on water. Himself had to fix one of the downspouts by the sun room. Very fortunate we stayed nice and dry.

5. My blog won an award. (-; More on that later.

How was your week?

Full STEAM Ahead

If you're looking for me today, I'll be here. In the sun room (where I work during warm weather season) attending STEAM 2014 Connectivity Conference. This virtual conference explores how arts fit into the STEM initiative. That is using arts to teach science, technology, engineering, and math and changing STEM to STEAM.

Transpartation

One of my team members coined the play on words "transpartation" for the Art of Science Learning project we are working on. Our project will be to design an art-infused STEM  curriculum using transportation as a theme.  This image was my contribution to the presentation we had to give. It's a mix of traditional and modern motifs visually interpreting the intersection of art with STEM.

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. Summer is officially here! Bring on the hazy, hot, and humid.

2. I skyped with my elementary school best friend. She lives in Arizona, and I hadn't heard from her in a while. Technology is wonderful.

3. Met Himself for a lunch date. 

4. We had our presentation for the Worcester Incubator. Hard to read the panelists whether they liked the idea or not. My part in the presentation was a timeline. 

5. I had a lazy day, yesterday. Did absotively nothing and don't feel guilty about having an extremely non-productive day.

How was your week?

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. Got my first choice project for the Art of Science Worcester Incubator. We met as a team for the first time. Should be an interesting ride.

2. I can see clearly now. Picked up my new glasses.

3. A personality conflict arose, and though I was tempted,  I didn't feed the trolls.

4. For a bit of color, planted petunias, lobelia, marigolds, ageratum, and impatiens in pots and the window boxes.

5. The death certificate for Zio Manny arrived in the mail.

How was your week?

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. As part of The Art of Science Learning workshop, I rode a bus through the city of Worcester for the first time. The bus was a new hybrid bus. Very clean and no smelly bus fumes.

2. The sun room is now open. The Young One's outgrown desk doubles as table for TV monitor, tuner, DVD player and storage for my art toys.

3. The Young One finished classes on Tuesday. Countdown to graduation.

4. I took a day off to enjoy playing the sun room. Watched Supernatural, Doctor Who, and Law and Order. Worked on graduation card for a young friend and took a nap.

5. Used my grandma's dishes and had tea with Red. Last week, Red was told she may have breast cancer. More tests and a week of worry. The really good news just a false positive test result.

How was your week?

Walking in the Rain

The art portion of the workshop was to write a poem about transportation. The inspiration for my poem was our walk across the city, and the pictures I took.

Walking in the rain,
Colorful mushroom umbrellas bloom on the sidewalk.
We pass concrete tubs with bright, green shoots.
Parents wrangle small children,
Like herding cats across busy streets.
I move about easily.
A man in a wheelchair rolls by,
He gifts me with a bright smile,
A treasured blossom on the grey, wet sidewalk.
I try to dodge the puddles so my new, blue shoes won't get soaked.
A row of tulips, red and yellow, are a colorful respite,
From the cold, dreary, busy street.
My hands are red,
Like numb tulips as I try to take pictures and hold maps and papers
I wish I had brought gloves.
Traffic roars by.
We wait for the little man to light up,
And we wait, and wait,
In the rain.
A car stops on the crosswalk,
Oblivious to us.
Pansies nod their faces as we pass by,
Their welcome reminds me of the man in the wheelchair.

Art of Science Learning - First Transportation Workshop

Saturday, the Art of Science Learning Fellows took a field trip into Boston via the commuter rail (train). We did a workshop on the train to get us to think about transportation and how it impacts us (personally, community, city, region).

From the train station, our destination was a short walk to the BSA (Boston Society of Architects) Space to view the exhibit, Rights of Way: Mobility and the City. The exhibit shows how cities are shaped by the people who move through it. We didn't have much time to see the exhibit as we had to move onto the next assignment.

We were sorted into groups and picked a partner. We were given a map and our assignment was to make our way on foot to a building across town. On the way we were to make observations of getting around the city. We were supposed to make drawings to answer questions: what were the difficulties, who had the most difficult time, what was something that brought delight, what was the easiest way to move about the city, what was a moment of discomfort. The discomfort part was easy because it was raining. My partner and I decided to take photographs instead of trying to draw pictures in the rain.

We were told we could follow the map or find our own way as long as we arrived at the next venue in 15 minutes. And we were off, like some sort of reality show as we made our observations and way through the city to Space with a Soul. While we ate our brown bag lunches, we listened to a presentation by Siqi Zhu, an Urban Planner at Utile.

After lunch, the art part of the workshop began. It's not a typical brain-storming session where one or two individuals usually lead a group discussion. Instead, brain-storming involves sculpting ideas with clay, drawing, making rhythmic "music" or "dance" or some other art-related activity. Our assignment was to write a poem about transportation and to share it with our group.

Lunch with Sigi

The second workshop for the Art of Science Learning was held at Clark University in the heart of Worcester. Our afternoon assignment was to consider problems and opportunities about urban nutrition. We were to roam the neighborhood and observe assigned grocery stores and restaurants.

Before leaving for my destination, I decided to take my bagged lunch outside and enjoy the sunshine. I had driven by the university a million times, but had never visited the campus. I made my way across the quad to a group of stone benches facing a statue. Seemed like a nice place to have lunch. The students were on Spring Break so there wasn't a lot of activity. The temperature was in the high 30s to low 40s combined with the sunshine and a light breeze, the weather was quite balmy for New England.

As I read the plaque on the statue, my lunch companion turned out to be none other than Sigmund Freud. Who knew such an august visitor came to Worcester? Certainly not this Boston snob.

In 1909, Freud was invited to lecture at Clark University to help celebrate the anniversary of the university's graduate school, only the second graduate school in the country at the time. The statue was installed for the centennial celebration of the event.

Sigi and I sat in companionable silence. He was interested in the book he was reading, and I was basking in the glow of Spring fever.

What's It All About, Alfie?

I've been asked what the Art of Science Learning is all about. Right now, it's an experiment with major funding from the National Science Foundation. The innovators for this project had polled top level executives to ask what they were looking for in today's workforce. Employers wanted employees that had communication,teamwork, and creativity skills. The executives felt the workforce coming out of school now is not adequately prepared in these areas. Those in areas of science, technology, engineering, and math are bright, but they can't explain their work especially to those that do not have a STEM background.

Through the data collection process, there seemed to be a correlation between Nobel prize winners and their involvement in the arts. (For example, Einstein played the violin.) These individuals were more creative than their colleagues who were not involved in some artistic extracurricular activity. The Art of Science Learning developers decided creativity is not innate. It's a skill that can be learned. So, they have developed a curriculum to teach an approach to innovation through the use of sculpture, jazz, improv theater and other arts.

That's where the Fellows come in. That's what the people chosen to participate in the project are called. We will be taught these skills. A new way of being able to look at problems and come up with solutions. We will then use these new tools to solve a real world problem and hopefully, come up with innovative, effective, and creative ways to address issues. We will take an idea through research and development to testing and launch phase.

Three centers or incubators have been chosen each with its own unique problem to solve. San Diego will be working on water issues, Chicago is looking into urban nutrition, and Worcester has chosen transportation as its year long project.

I'm guessing data collected from the incubator projects will be used to further refine the curriculum to be incorporated into the education system in the future.

Worcester Incubator for Innovation

Yesterday was the first workshop for the Art of Science Learning Worcester Incubator for Innovation, a year long project.

From the welcome letter from the director: Welcome Art of Science Learning Fellows, You have been selected from a field of remarkably talented, interesting, and diverse background to pilot an innovation curriculum that links the arts with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning. Coupled with the cutting-edge program, your collective creativity, aptitudes, abilities, and new-found knowledge will focus on the challenge of developing inventive transportation solutions in Worcester.

There are a hundred fellows and after the introduction, we were divided into groups for our first challenge. We were given a box of "stuff": Styrofoam shapes, clay, sticky notes, markers, crayons, dowels, pipe cleaners, tape, magazines. We had to use the materials to model what innovation meant to us, as a team. This technique was called metaphorming. I'm not sure my group accomplished this, but working with the materials was a great ice-breaker for a cooperative task.

Out to Lunch

Actually, I'll be attending the first module for the Art of Science Learning. More later.