Ryan Jenkins's Blog

Recently I’ve been experimenting with materials sets and prompts that focus on the idea of tinkering with young learners (roughly ages 2-6). I got inspired by a conversation with Nicole Catrett about her experiments with roly poly rollers at a local preschool. These simple bots with interchangeable wheels have their roots in motion board, another experiment that we tried with Lighthouse Community Charter School in Oakland a few years back.

Last year I spent several months developing concepts and testing prototypes for playful, art-infused and open-ended light and optics exhibits at Phaeno Science Center in Wolfsburg as part of a museum wide renovation. After several iterations we sent our plans to the fabricators and in the last couple of weeks the ‘final’ version of the exhibits debuted on the floor of the museum. I wanted to share the photos and videos of the results of the collaboration and I’m looking forward to future collab...

This summer, WICO friend and collaborator as well as the author of Hex Allen and the Clanksmiths, Jasmine Florentine is releasing a new book on August 5th that combines...

When integrating any new technology into tinkering activities it’s important to engage with open prototyping and collaborative reflection about the process. This past w...

This is a guest post by Celeste Moreno , a Creative Technologist in the Boulder Public Library District makerspaces and a designer of creative learning experiences for a...

This weekend I had the chance to help out with an amazing tinkering project, a 50 meter giant sound-based marble run at the 14th International Sound and Organ Festival,...

Last week as part of a nationwide celebration of digital tools and technologies in learning environments, I ran a experimental workshop at the Stadtbibliothek (city library) in partnership with the city sustainability office. The idea for the workshop was to use an AI image generator (we tried out SchulKI for the activity) to create pictures of a eco-friendly future for Freiburg, print out mini stickers and then add the ideas to a giant cardboard installation.

This is a guest post by Celeste Moreno , a Creative Technologist in the Boulder Public Library District makerspaces and a designer of creative learning experiences for a...