梦想蒸汽

今年春天, a diverse class of 澳门金沙线上赌博官网 students banded together to create a colorful, 动态“发现立方体”的博物馆, recently named the top children’s museum in America by 《澳门金沙线上赌博官网》.

这个项目, 机器制作的模块化系列, 联锁的盒子, 作为跨学科课程“建筑环境的学术制作”的一部分，旨在激发孩子们创造性地思考STEAM(科学, 技术, 工程, 艺术, 和数学). 但看看澳门金沙线上赌博官网集团的创作过程吧, 你会看到班上的每个人都建立了同样令人印象深刻的东西:更有活力的自己.

“这门课是工程学和艺术界之间意想不到但又显而易见的结合,人类交流和戏剧教授说 斯科特·尼尔, M.F.A., who co-taught the class alongside 艺术 professor 凯特Ritson, M.F.A. “作为艺术家, 我们习惯于不断创新新的方法和使用新的工具来创造一个创造性的想法的物理体现.”

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Professors 凯特Ritson (left) and 斯科特·尼尔 (center) present at the Doseum, 技术人员瑞恩·霍奇(右)在旁边看着

这门课被尼尔称为“澳门金沙线上赌博官网第一个真正的STEAM课程”，由澳门金沙线上赌博官网资助 梅隆倡议 Humanities/艺术s Lab Development Grant, and was the brainchild of Ritson, 尼尔, 威尔逊特勒尔, 澳门金沙线上赌博官网’s Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs - Inclusive Excellence, 和机械车间技术员 瑞安·霍奇.

The grant opportunity was brought to their attention by Carlotta De Bellis, former Post-Baccalaureate Fellow at the Collaborative for Learning and Teaching, who took the initiative to help prepare the team for writing the proposal. 卡洛塔的热情和决心是她申请资助的动力. 这门课程是利用该大学创客空间的三位一体课程不断增加的最新课程, 一个独特的, state-of-the-艺术 machine shop where students of all majors can create together.

而尼尔说，“建筑环境的学术制作”一直是一个长达一个学期的项目, 直到特雷尔在圣安东尼奥博物馆的一个熟人找到了他, a vibrant children’s museum just a few blocks east of 澳门金沙线上赌博官网’s campus, 那 the class found its objective: to create a interactive, 该空间的移动显示屏将帮助DoSeum满足各种编程需求.

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特雷尔(中)是澳门金沙线上赌博官网与纪念馆合作的重要倡导者

特雷尔和DoSeum的工作人员于2020年春季开始就潜在的合作关系进行初步讨论, 但由于新冠肺炎而停滞不前. “作为一个机构，我们的两个优势是跨学科合作的能力, and creating experiential learning opportunities for our students. 我们认为艺术/戏剧课程是一个绝佳的机会，可以利用我们的优势重启与the DoSeum的谈判.特雷尔说。. 

任务一开始似乎很简单:团队想要讲述“STEAM的故事”，尼尔说. 而是充分利用班级的各种才能, as a group with students from backgrounds in the 艺术s, 剧院, 工程, 数学, 和更多的, 事实证明这本身就是一个挑战.

“The one thing 那 we really drove our students to think about was narrative, finding a narrative and telling a story with 这 thing,尼尔说。. “我们注意到，那些来自数学、科学和工程背景的学生一开始在创作这种叙事时遇到了挑战. 而那些有戏剧背景和艺术背景的学生确实可以接受叙事创作，但他们在一些技术方面遇到了挑战，比如, “好吧, 怎么用正字法表示呢?’”

人类学 主修Sofía 穆尼奥斯 ' 23和 工程科学 major Tristan 阿里亚斯 ’22 exemplified these challenges , but also the growth 那 comes with getting pushed out of comfort zones. That’s a hallmark of 澳门金沙线上赌博官网’s approach to the liberal 艺术s, where presumed weaknesses actually become strengths.

穆尼奥斯也辅修戏剧和博物馆研究, and she eventually wants to work doing exhibit designs for museums. She was initially excited to work in the Makerspace, 但也有点害怕第一次看到里面的先进设备:“这绝对是令人生畏的. 我很害怕我会打碎什么东西——这是主要的恐惧，”她说. “但一旦, with the help of the 工程科学 teaching assistants and of course 瑞安·霍奇, 使用(激光)切割机和一些较硬的工具时，我感觉更有信心了.”

穆尼奥斯 and the rest of the class ended up using equipment such as a CNC router for milling and cutting; a 3D printer to create the “feet” 那 helped the display be mobile; a Rayjet laser cutter for etching designs; and design software such as Adobe Illustrator and Fusion 360.

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刚开始上课的时候, 学生们被分成几个小组, each responsible for a different aspect of the build. 穆尼奥斯’s group was placed in charge of the aesthetic of the project, 挑选颜色, 形状, 一般设计元素. 虽然工作很有趣, “有时会很有挑战性,穆尼奥斯说, 指出她的团队必须解决所有问题，从颜色问题(白色是最初的颜色选择), 但很快就脏了)和材料问题(切割泡沫材料花费的时间比预期的要长，因为激光切割机熔化了它).

“老实说, 我们整个学期学到的主题是，我们计划的任何事情都必须改变, and we're just going to have to be okay with 那,穆尼奥斯说. 

在这些危机时刻, 穆尼奥斯 leaned on the interdisciplinary aspect of the class, 无论是对老师还是对她的队友. “Having kind of those moments where I was kind of brought back down a little bit, 更踏实一点, I think was definitely a huge p艺术 of what the 工程 students brought,她说。.

And when those 工程 students had their own challenges, 穆尼奥斯也给予了回报:“能够和一些工程师坐下来，像这样说，真的很有趣, “好吧, 这是 身体上的 超级酷. The way 这 [device] unfolds is really cool, but what's the 主题? 比如它有什么可爱的地方? 审美是什么??”

工程科学专业的特里斯坦·阿里亚斯22岁, 被问到这些问题是工程设计过程中一个令人耳目一新的转折. But at 澳门金沙线上赌博官网, 工程 is different by design.

澳门金沙线上赌博官网的工程科学专业并不强迫学生完全致力于这两种化学物质, 电, 或者机械轨道, 而是利用这三种元素. And they get to spend all four years with at least one design component.

对于咏叹调来说, who plans on going to graduate school for 工程, the draw of the DoSeum project was getting the chance to redesign 他个人解决问题的方法.

“对于班上的工程专业学生来说，从主题上思考一直是一件非常困难的事情, 想想看, 如果我们要给一个四岁的孩子做这个, 如何 do we inspire wonder and interest in a young child's mind?阿里亚斯说. “But the nature of the course forced us all to think more creatively.”

As they worked with the non-工程科学 majors, 阿里亚斯 says his team began to get a stronger grasp on the narrative side of things.

“The final idea was very much focused on a little bit of mystery,阿里亚斯说. “作为STEAM本身的封装，有一点自然的结合. There’s 这 idea 那 if you look at the natural world, 你会发现科学, 技术, 工程, 艺术, 还有数学. So, 我们试着采用这个设计, 让神秘和自然成为博物馆真正灵活使用的基础.”

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阿里亚斯, 穆尼奥斯, 团队其他成员的最终愿景最终围绕着“发现立方体”的概念展开。, 孩子们可以在STEAM的五个类别的盒子里发现各种各样的物品. 这个创造物最终变成了一个巨大的, 互锁盒模块组, 每个都印有与博物馆工作人员可以自由移动的五个STEAM类别之一相关的图像, stock with new items according to programming needs, and even rearrange to fit different rooms and spaces. The display also packs neatly for transport to various locations within the DoSeum.

创建, well-received by DoSeum officials at its unveiling, is a testament to the interdisciplinary leadership of Ritson, 尼尔, 和霍奇, 两个学生都说.

“Their dynamic was very interesting,穆尼奥斯说. “他们绝对是互补的. 凯特非常喜欢大胆而宏大的想法. And Scott helped us narrow ideas down to where they could work. I would just kind of dream big dreams 那 sometimes 是n't 身体上的 possible.”

识别梦境 是 这就是霍奇介入的地方, 尼尔 says: “Kate [Ritson] and I would sit here and work with the students and say, “你知道, 那会很酷的 if 我们可以做 这, or 那.’”尼尔说，“然后我们都转向赖安(霍奇)，立即问道，‘好吧，赖安， 如何 我们要这样做吗??’”

“Ryan [Hodge] really felt very much like the mechanical expert,” 阿里亚斯 adds. “从物理上讲，这是如何工作的?

For the students, the class also ended up being a chance to discard some roles 那 they might have seemed typecast for in other environments.

“For the students 那 是 not 工程科学 majors, 他们习惯于机械地思考,穆尼奥斯说. “我觉得很多工程师都从这门课中学到了实物可以传达故事的道理. That's really important to me as someone who wants to go into museum exhibit design, where museum exhibits are both a narrative and a built environment.”

在澳门金沙线上赌博官网这样的文科环境里, 筒仓和部门倒下了，新的创作才能崛起——就像3d打印机一层又一层地放下材料一样，缓慢而稳定.

和阿里亚斯, 在这堂课结束前, 注意到他的每一个队友都在他们之前的优势之外拓展出新的优势.

随着项目的进行, basically all students’ roles sort of melded together, because the responsibilities all 是 super-adaptable,他说. “项目的需求并不完全属于我们开始时的这些类别. So everybody ended up getting hands on with everything.”