Creative, thought provoking, innovative - and addresses areas too long ignored in history education.  These are lessons the students will remember because they are presented in a unique and interactive manner.  

Thanks for sharing your project.  I can see that you are taking on challenging issues around immigration.  The new NGSS elementary energy standards are also presenting challenges to both elementary students and teachers.  Could you describe how the e-textiles introduce students to those foundational energy ideas?  How are the students ideas about energy forms, transfers and transformations developing during the course of these activities? 

Very powerful project! How do you support combined learning on challenging issues regarding settler colonialism and the techy dimensions of e-textiles? I am interesting in learning more about the PD for teachers, and also the learning supports for students. Thank you for sharing.

Love how you're encouraging students to show their personal migration pathways in such an intimate (crafts) way and bringing migration into the public eye. The electronics & computing are thoughtfully integrated here (rather than externally slapped on). Wish I could see some of those larger projects in more detail. Have any worked examples or pictures up online anywhere?

I love the idea of anchoring the project in migration stories! The video points out some interesting connections to social studies and computing. Could you share a bit more about some of the science and engineering activities or concepts that are integrated?

Very timely to have conversations with elementary students about the topic of immigration. Especially like the connection to the underground railroad. Can you provide more details about the professional development teachers will receive over the summer to help implement the projects with students? Will there be opportunities throughout the school year for cohorts of teachers to meet and discuss successes and impediments of implementation? Thank you. 

The teachers will be meeting in groups themselves and with us to problem solve, workshop, and plan. Often with e-textiles novel problems arise so we feel that frequent meetings to trouble shoot challenges is the best approach to ensure teacher buy in and success. 

The teachers will be meeting in groups themselves and with us to problem solve, workshop, and plan. Often with e-textiles novel problems arise so we feel that frequent meetings to trouble shoot challenges is the best approach to ensure teacher buy in and success. 

This is very inspiring and innovative, thank you! Any chance you can share your projects? We have elementary science teachers who also teach computer science, and we are focusing on culturally relevant teaching - your projects seem to be a perfect fit for our program!

Irina, see my comment above for more details on our projects. This is our first year, so we are still working on a shareable version of the curriculum (it's in development), but it will eventually be available via the Chaos Learning lab website and relevant NSF repositories.

Excellent presentation. I'm an art teacher and am always looking for ways to integrate with other subjects so I love the connection to science and social studies. The use of the lights and electrical paths to connect areas is sparking ideas of how I could extend some of my lessons. I especially like the last phase of the project, where the students create a personal quilt square. I always like to leave room in lessons for their personal input...

It is delightful to see the beautiful quilt works featured in the video. I am especially intrigued by how "tactile" the artifacts are. I can't help but thinking how much those quilt works can be experienced and enjoyed by children with visual impairments via touch. I wonder what usually happened to the products students. Did students take them home? Would they be willing to donate to other families with young children with visual impairments?

This project fascinates me! The combination of quilting, history, technology and a hot current topic is brilliant! Do the students combine their finished squares and create a class quilt? Is this project done with a 5th grade class? It's probably mentioned and I missed it... have you considered an audio presentation to accompany the squares and migrations? I'm envisioning a wonderful installation at a museum! Thank you for sharing this with us...