LilyPad Project: Korean National Flag
DESCRIPTION OF DESIGN:
I made the flash light T-shirt on the Korean national flag. Recently, I watched the Olympic games. As a Korean, I always cheered up Korea team. The Olympic is the largest advertising stage for promoting and branding the country. Thus, I came up with idea that making a sportswear for cheering up a member of the Korean national team. Also, the lights of T-shirt connected LilyPad can be manipulated based on the programming we make.
My original plan was putting lights on black shape on the Korean flag as well. Thus, when the lights are on, people can see a whole shape of Korean flag with a colorful light. However, I can’t sew It from the center to the edge because the distance is too far and complicated to stitch. Also, I realized the light do not have black color. Thus, I couldn't do this. I just installed LilyPad in the circle of Korean flag and lights on.
PROCESS OF MAKING:
The challenge that I confronted was that my first LilyPad did not connect the port and computer cannot recognize the port at all. First, I thought it was the software program, so I reinstalled the Arduino tool kit software. I kept trying to make it work, but I did not work. Finally, the teacher replaced another LilyPad, and it worked. Because of the experience like me, I believe that the LilyPad is cannot be 100 percent satisfying educational tool. Also, it is better to use over K-6 grade students.
On the other hand, I enjoyed that once it started to work, I can manipulate the coding from software. As I have experience of using coding before, for me, it did not strange to play around with coding. This feature is related to constructivist approach. Allowing ownership to make something is paramount in maker studio. In addition, the most distinct feature that LilyPad has is instant feedback. LilyPad is a tangible device, and it links to a computer to interact depending on the coding. For example, if we put the blink command coding in the computer, usually the software shows the visualization in the computer, but the LilyPad is shown the blink in the device. It is different than normal coding. I like this feature because it is like engineering and I can see the result right away.
Furthermore, in order to complete the project, I used two resources: peer and tutorial website. For the maker space, if there is the problem that I need to solve, I usually find the answer on online. Particularly I use YouTube channel because YouTube, as we can see the video, is trustable and easy to follow the instruction with visualization. Another resource I used for this project was the peer. Joshua was really helpful peer teacher at this time. At the same time, he was a leader for this project. The process was like this: once he figured out how to use the LilyPad, and he taught me based on his simulation. First, copying what he is doing and applying it in my project was really helpful strategy.
REFLECTION ON LEARNING:
What I have learned from LilyPad was computational thinking. For example, it starts with the simple principle that minus needs to be connected with minus and plus needs to be connected plus. From this simple principle, we can make parallel connections with multiple LED lights. Also, I felt like LilyPad is a small computer. I am sure that computer hardware is also working as similar as LilyPad. For example, computer language is only having 1 and 0. Using these two digital codes, we can make the coding command to the computer. Thus, from LilyPad experience, I can learn how a computer works and what the technology principle of LilyPad is.
Moreover, if I make a rating for LilyPad, I will give it three out of five stars. I have to be honest at this time. Lilypad was not easy to learn and entertain especially in education purpose. I think this LilyPad project is more effective over K-6 grade. Otherwise, they do not understand how it works and why it works that way. Even though I also participated as student who want to learn how to make LilyPad in this time, I couldn't feel a lot of inspiration or motivation as compared to last projects. Also, LilyPad project seems to require all skills we have learned from the beginning of the course such as scratch (coding skills), makey makey (engineering), paper circuit, lastly stitching/sewing skills as the core for this project. Please connect your discussion in this section to the course readings and/or ideas.
In the article, bring e-textiles into engineering education, Eisenberg asserts that e-textiles education needs to expand from K-12 to higher education because LilyPad has benefits that helping students understanding the concepts in the engineering perspectives. Same as I mentioned above, the LilyPad could be a good tool to increase computational thinking. Also, there is a problem that we need to fix for making better education. He mentioned power problem. The power sometimes exceeds the capabilities of the LilyPad battery and can cause overheating. Now, we are moving forward to digital era. For digital natives, LilyPad education may be an important because it can be a trigger to open the computational thinking for young generation.
Reference
Eisenberg, M., Eisenberg, A., & Huang, Y. (2013). Bringing e-textiles into engineering education. Textile messages: Dispatches from the world of e-textiles and education, 17-28.
Comments