I’m working with a class of middle school children locally. They’re the type of kids who for many reasons aren’t typically motivated to create. They are highly motivated to consume media and will do so whenever they have the chance, but their teacher is trying to change that dynamic. I’ve offered him the use of a MaKey MaKey, and he’s going to try to raise the funds to buy a few more. I’ll follow up on this post, but I’m already really encouraged with the reception that it received today:

All I did for them was plug it in and get the MIT Scratch Drum Machine up for them and let them do the rest. A little later, after they got the idea of a a small circuit I gave them a Serial Bus I made for another project the night before and that let more kids in on the human drum kit. I’ve encouraged the teacher to let them discover and create on their own. I’ll go back next week and see where they go. I’m also helping them to work with Zoombinis – we’re going to look at ways to move the concepts off the game and into other creative projects and transferring the skills to other areas.