What is CSnap Unplugged?
One challenge we face with implementing Adinkra Computing into Ghanaian school's curriculum is the lack of computers; maybe the school has no computers at all or maybe they have five computers for 500 students. To overcome this challenge the question must be asked, how do we teach computer programming without computers? Our answer to this is CSnap Unplugged, which takes CSnap's computer interface and replicates it off the computer.
To make CSnap Unplugged, I took the codelets one by one from each different panel and used Photoshop to enlarge and elongate the blocks into sizes that would be easy to manipulate. Shown in the image below is one sheet of CSnap Unplugged blocks.
<Some CSnap Unplugged blocks>
After printing out all the blocks we deemed fit for an unplugged set we used clear tape to laminate the sheets and cut out the blocks. We put these blocks into envelopes labeled Adinkra Computing Unplugged. In total we made four sets.
<Cutting the blocks out>
On Tuesday, July 22nd, we went to Ntonso Junior High and used these sets to practice building scripts. We began by introducing them to CSnap using a laptop projected onto a classroom wall. Using the compuetr we walked teachers through building a script on CSnap that stamped different Adinkra symbols onto a nine by seven unit grid. This script involved the computer science topics of storage and looping as well as math concepts like adding positives and negatives and plotting on the Cartesian coordinate grid. As we built this script on the projector teachers followed along building the same script with their unplugged sets.
<Using CSnap Unplugged with Ntonso Junior High teachers>
After using these sets we noticed some obvious flaws with the sets we provided them with. The blocks were paper thin and laminated and were therefore hard to handle and very slippery; the scripts wouldn't stay in the same formation that teachers were putting them in. We also had provided them with some numbers and positive/negative signs to input values into the blocks but they often ran out of these too fast.
To account for these flaws I am currently working on making a newer and improved version of CSnap Unplugged blocks that are no longer paper thin but rather three dimensional! And instead of using pre-made numbers to input values, each set will come with a dry erase marker which can be used on the laminated surface and then just wiped away. There was concern about the accessibility to dry erase markers in Ghana but we found a set here at the Kumasi bookstore so we know they are available in certain locations.
A Stamping Activity
On Tuesday with the Ntonso Junior High teachers we did an activity that combined C-Snap Unplugged and stamping. We had a total of about twenty teachers and four Adinkra Computing Unplugged sets, so we broke up into four groups of five. In each group they were split in half onto a team A and a team B. In the activity, team A used the unplugged set to create a stamping script similar to the example we had done. When they completed the script they could then use the stamps and ink we brought to stamp what they thought their script should look like onto a piece of paper. Then team B would use the stamped piece of paper to try and recreate the script that would make it. When they finished team A and team B could compare scripts to see what they did differently and talk about what works and why. Finally this process was repeated with team B scripting first and stamping.
The pieces of paper that we stamped were used to mimic the output screen on CSnap's digital interface.
<Stamping output on CSnap's computer interface>
Sustainability and Drawing on Local Resources
This was a perfect activity to do in Ntonso because it allowed us to draw on local resources, as it is the craft village?home of Adinkra. On Sunday we payed a visit to the stamp carver and he custom made mini-Adinkra stamps for us, about an eighth of the size of a normal stamp. He had never made a stamp so small before and really enjoyed the challenge.
<Custom made mini-Adinkra stamps>
Aside from the sheer cuteness of these mini-stamps there was some logic behind the request. We wanted to make CSnap unplugged as sustainable as possible and sometimes computers are not the only resource lacking in Ghanaian schools but just pens and paper can be a burden. By using mini stamps we were able to reduce the amount of paper that would be necessary to do the stamping activity. We also bought ink, from the Adinkra Ink maker right across the street who is also head of the school's PTA, in a pre-final stage. By using ink in this stage as apposed to a completed ink, it could be purchased at a much lower cost.
Other than using mini-stamps and cheap ink we wanted to provide the school with another alternative. So we also showed the possibility of stamping into a box of sand. We gave the school a plastic bin and then filled it with sand from the school's ground. Using the sandbox you could use a finger, stick, or butt end of a pen to draw the lines for a grid into it and then using full sized Adinkra stamps, which should have a lifespan of two or three years before breaking, make a stamping pattern. After each new pattern you could just shake the box a little and have a clean slate for the next group.
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