Themes: Communication, Environmental Awareness, Computational Thinking, Storytelling

Explorer Mindset Attitudes and Skills: Communicate, Empowered, Collaborate

This activity invites learners to identify an issue they care about and come up with ideas on how to communicate about it. Learners will animate stories to share these issues, empowering themselves and others to enact change. To do that, they will be using OctoStudio, a free creative coding app from the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab. By creating interactive projects, students will have the opportunity to develop their communication skills through storytelling and animation, as well as feel empowered to take action. Below is an overview of the activity, and you can also access the detailed Educator Guide.

With OctoStudio, learners can create projects by first thinking about an issue they care about, and then choosing images and text to illustrate it. They can then use coding blocks to animate their ideas and share them with others. By designing and coding their own animations, learners engage in the process of problem solving and raising awareness about ways to help make a difference. 

This activity was inspired by National Geographic Explorer Qiyun Woo, an environmentalist, creative storyteller, and artist from Singapore who uses comics and art to communicate about complex climate science issues with her community. Her work helps them learn and reflect about local environmental issues, whether they’re in a small town or a big city. Like Qiyun, learners can build their Explorer Mindset attributes, such as communication and empowerment, by creating their own animations. In the process, learners can develop their ability to raise awareness about an issue they care about, while building valuable coding and digital literacy skills.

Guiding Questions:

• What is an issue that you care about in your environment or community?
• What do you wish more people knew about this issue?
• How can you help more people understand this issue and communicate through words, sounds, and images?

When to Use the Activity:

This activity invites young people to animate stories about an issue they care about. The activity can work well as a way to engage in communication, problem solving, and creating interactive models in a general science, arts, social studies, or computing class.

Time: Approximately 60 minutes, depending on available time. This activity can be extended to more than one class period to provide more time for learners to create, share, and reflect.

Learning Objectives:

Learners will:

• Develop communication skills by creating an animation using OctoStudio to share about an issue that is important to them
• Feel empowered by bringing awareness or action to an issue that is important to them

This learning resource is a part of a larger suite of tools focused on creative coding, including the Explore Your World with OctoStudio resource featuring National Geographic Explorer Niharika Rajput, as well as the Make a Mini Game with OctoStudio resource featuring National Geographic Explorer Gibbs Kuguru.