Honing  Pattern  Recognition  Skills through  Dance

Honing  Pattern  Recognition  Skills through  Dance

Posted in artSTEAM, Blog Posts, Elementary & Middle Years, Fine Arts, Inclusive Practices, Secondary | Tagged with , , , , ,

Teaching dance steps can be an effective and  engaging  way to demonstrate and explain the concept of pattern recognition. Pattern recognition  is one aspect of computational thinking and is integral to the Applied Design Skills and Technologies Curriculum (ADST BC Curriculum). It is useful in fields such as: mathematics; computer science (programming and machine learning); scientific discovery and research (by making common connections between disparate findings); and more specifically in the fields of biogeography and evolutionary biology. 

Recently, in a workshop for teacher candidates in the BEd program at UBC, basic dance steps across various styles were demonstrated with attendees encouraged to ‘dance along’. As participants observed and practiced the steps, they also noticed and discussed how different dance styles relate to each other and hypothesized from where different steps might have originated. 

Some key take-aways from the workshop:

  • Dance is perfect to demonstrate this in that it teaches how to break movements down into their most basic forms.
  • Learning dance steps involves composition and decomposition of patterns and is, therefore, related to coding and computational thinking.
  • The act of being able to practice dance steps can help improve pattern recognition skills in general, and can be applied to the curriculum competencies in STEM subject areas and is specifically connected to the BC ADST curriculum.
  • “Solving problems is a creative process” and I would add that there is also creativity involved in being able to recognize patterns and then apply this ability across different contexts, subject areas or tasks.

Applied Design Skills & Technologies:

Pattern recognition is a cross-curricular skill or competency that is important in all subject areas. Computational thinking is, in large part, about recognizing patterns and is an important aspect of the Applied Design, Skills & Technologies Curriculum in BC (ADST). A post to the “Tech-based Teaching” blog, aimed at K-12 teachers, helps us understand the link between pattern and computational thinking (a key aspect of the ADST curriculum). 

A blog post written by the company HUSPI, contains a fairly comprehensive explanation of Pattern recognition in Machine Learning. While it is from a ‘for-profit’ company and contains the expected promotion of software they have developed, it provides relevant examples and explains how pattern recognition “simplifies the analytics” results and provides a reliable source for business intelligence insights, which is critical for organizations and the decision-making process. One example provided is how the Google Translate App uses optical character recognition (OCR) allowing you to get a translation using just the camera on your phone. You can read the full blog post on the company’s website. 

The Sciences:

In evolutionary biology,  pattern recognition skills are essential for making connections in research and to help identify differences in the evolution of species across geographical areas. For example, the skunk cabbage along the BC coast is very similar to that found in Siberia with the exception of a difference in leaf colour (this coloured leaf is a modified leaf called a spathe).


The skunk cabbage found along the west coast of  BC has a yellow spathe while that found along the east coast of Siberia (and some areas of Japan) has a white spathe.

Dance:

Jacqueline’s Dance Workshop Video

In the workshop, references were also made to cues and how they are interpreted and how they are universal across the partnered dances, and are also present in solo dances such as those from West Africa and Indonesia.  

Where West African dance make use of verbal cues, Indonesian (Balinese in particular) dance makes use of eye cues. This can also be seen in Bollywood dance from India. Interestingly, these eye movement cues are not common in other dance styles. For an example of eye movements in Balinese dance, this Youtube Video of a Balinese Legong Dance from Ubud, Bali. Minutes 2:08 – 2:35 and again from 4:45 – 5:38 highlights clearly the use of eye movements. 

The map below, along with the accompanying website, helps tell the story of strong connections between music and dance in Africa and that of Central and South America due to the African diaspora.  

During the workshop, we noticed:

  • Some  similarities  across styles including: basic steps for hustle, salsa and east coast swing which all have a step back on the right foot (for follows and the opposite foot for leads), and then some variation of placing your feet side by side. 


    The above are 3 or 6 count step dances (whereas bachata which is similar to salsa, is a four-count dance, and lindy hop which is similar to east coast swing, is an 8-count dance).

  • References to arm stylings were made and how there are similar movements between salsa and hustle, in particular. Turns (inside and outside) are also very similar between the various partnered styles. 


    For solo dances, arm styling similarities can be seen between West African and salsa dance (hair brush arm movement, in particular). And also, West African and hip hop (such as arm rolls while doing basic steps). There is also a “Charleston-like” movement that is similar between the West African and East coast swing styles. 

  • Similarities between basic steps in solo dance styles include having various “home steps,” which is the case for hip hop and also West African dance. A home step is a basic step that you can “fall back on” or “keep coming back to” as a resting step between more advanced patterns.
  • We also discussed differences in weight shifting and grooving and how each dance has its own “attitude” or style, and how this also might give cultural clues.

References:

BC Grade 12 curriculum for computer science:

BC’s Redesigned Curriculum. (n.d.). Retrieved November 17, 2020, from https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum/adst

African diaspora (in music):

(n.d.). Retrieved November 17, 2020, from https://www.albany.edu/faculty/jhobson/middle_passages/latin.html

Youtube Video of a Balinese Legong Dance from Ubud, Bali. Minutes 2:08 – 2:35 and again from 4:45 – 5:38 


Shadows Galore. (2014, June 28). Balinese Legong Dance – Ubud, Bali [Video]. YouTube. URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9lNc4fu8Zc&feature=youtu.be&t=128

A post to the “Tech-based Teaching” blog, aimed at K-12 teachers 


Editor, T. (2019, August 22). Thinking in Patterns: A Brief Intro to Pattern Recognition. Retrieved November 17, 2020, from https://medium.com/tech-based-teaching/thinking-in-patterns-a-brief-intro-to-pattern-recognition-4c33258acad

Pattern Recognition in Machine Learning

Gimon, A. (2019, November 13). Software Development & IT Consulting. Retrieved November 17, 2020, from https://huspi.com/blog-open/pattern-recognition-in-machine-learning
Biogeography and pattern recognition (abstracts)

Biogeography. (n.d.). Retrieved November 17, 2020, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/biogeography

Skunk Cabbage: A BC Plant Reaches Across the Pacific

Dr. Richard Hebda Contributor. (2014, December 15). Skunk Cabbage: A British Columbia plant reaches across the Pacific. Retrieved November 17, 2020, from https://curious.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/skunk-cabbage-a-british-columbia-plant-reaches-across-the-pacific/

 
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Native Land

Posted in 4-7, 8-12, Digital & Media Literacy, Elementary & Middle Years, Inclusive Practices, K-3, Not Subject Specific, Open Educational Resources, Resource, Secondary | Tagged with , , , ,

Native Land is an online, interactive map that maps out the ancestral lands of Indigenous peoples all over the world, specifically in the Americas, Northern Europe and Austronesia. Its “About” page states that it was created in 2015 by a non-Indigenous man named from the Okanagan named Victor Temprano. Right now, Native Land is run by a team of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people from around Canada and around the world.

There is incredible diversity amongst Indigenous populations and, unfortunately, this diversity can often get overlooked. Native Land is a valuable resource that can help expose students to the heterogeneity of Indigenous populations, both nationally and internationally. Teachers might use Native land to recognize the territories on which their own school resides, or when learning about other places in the wold so that they incorporate more local voices and resources in their teaching.

Here is a screen capture of a map of the territories of Indigenous groups in North America.

  1. Go to native-land.ca
  2. Use the interactive map to view the locations of the ancestral lands of various Indigenous groups from around the world
  3. Search the lands by Territories, Languages and/or Treaties

Whiteboard Chat

Posted in 4-7, 8-12, Active Learning, K-3, Not Subject Specific, Resource | Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Draw, Share, Collaborate

What is it?

Whiteboard Chat is a virtual whiteboard for teachers, students, remote colleagues, parents, and kids for collaborative learning. It is free to use, connects up to 100 people to a board simultaneously, and exports boards to PDF. It also enables you to easily observe and teach many user boards at the same. There is no sign up needed and you can share a link to a board for collaboration. Saving a board requires sign in with a free account (at time of writing Spring 2021).

Why is it relevant?

Whiteboard Chat provides a fairly intuitive option that you can use with your students to collaborate on a whiteboard together. Given increasing remote teaching and learning due to COVID-19 and a general increasing use of an interest in remote collaborative options, tools like whiteboard chat can help connect multiple people and devices together.
Your students (and you) can all draw on the same board together. There is no need for your students to sign in or provide their email or identifying information to join a board that you have set up. Once on the board, you can draw with your mouse, pencil, or finger and access a variety of tools. There are many whiteboard-style tools available online or as apps. For more options and a few tips on how you might incorporate this technology in your teaching/learning context, please visit the ‘digital whiteboards’ post in our blog.

How to get started?

  1. Go to https://www.whiteboard.chat
  2. Click on Start Drawing
  3. Choose “Start Teaching” to launch an instructor whiteboard as well as a grid of separate whiteboards to share with your students. This option will allow each one of your students to have their own White Board to draw on and that you can also observe from your screen
  4. Choose “Start Collaborating” to share one single whiteboard with all of your students
  5. Through unique invitation URLs that you can post in Microsoft Teams, Google Classroom or any other place where you can post a link for students, both of these options will direct your students to whiteboards
  6. Regardless of which option you choose, you will be welcomed with a tour message to show you how to start. If you do not see this message, please click on the three dots between the settings icon and the “new poll” option on the top right corner of the page

  7. The application has a fairly comprehensive help center including an FAQ and blog posts about various features https://www.whiteboard.chat/help (You can find the ‘help/how to’ button on the top right side of the app home page).

Video demonstration

Teach, Monitor & Coach

Multi-Device, Share & Collaborate

References

    Byrne, R. (1970, January 01). Whiteboard Chat – Online Whiteboards You Can Share and Monitor. Retrieved December 21, 2020, from https://www.freetech4teachers.com/2020/09/whiteboard-chat-online-whiteboards-you.html

    Whiteboard.chat. (n.d.). Retrieved December 21, 2020, from https://www.whiteboard.chat

     
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Dotstorming

Posted in 4-7, 8-12, Active Learning, K-3, Not Subject Specific, Resource | Tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

Dotstorming is a free tool for collaborative brainstorming and for voting on ideas that people share on a board. You can place cards on the topics board with ideas or options that people can vote on. Also, there are various types of boards (a collage, a voting board, and a wall). The different kinds of boards are referred to more generally as a workspace.

The teacher can set how many votes are allowed per card before they are locked. It is also possible to rank the voting cards by number of votes received.

To get started, navigate to: https://dotstorming.com/
and click “Sign up” at the top right.

Free vs. Paid Features:

  • five topics and one board are available with a free account.
  • teachers send out a link to their board (or there is an option to sign up by email, but students don’t have to do this)
  • the students can simply sign into the wall by typing in their name (for privacy reasons, you may wish to have students use initials or first name only or an ‘avatar’ name)
  • teachers can re-use one free board by erasing the content when done and starting again fresh.
  • there is also an option to clear a board of all votes and comments (but re-use the same board for different classes).

    • Dotstorming is a fun way to interact with students remotely and to participate as a group to vote on topics. It is accessible to young students, because it is mostly a matter of pointing and clicking (as long as they know where to click), and is similar to Padlet but with more features.

    This app has a very fun feel to it, with lots of room for creativity and collaboration!

      Create an account as described above, then follow these steps to create a board:

      Steps for Teachers:

      1. create an account and log in
      2. click on “Create Space” at top right and choose between: voting board, wall, collage, or workspace
      3. double click to create a card (type in text)
      4. you can arrange the cards: add images, connect with lines, nest them, add a chart
      5. click on share link at top right of wall > to share link with students
      6. students can manipulate the cards (unless they are locked by the teacher) and cast up to three votes per card

      From the Student’s Perspective:

      1. sign in to the wall by simply typing your (the student’s) name
      2. vote and comment on cards that appear on the wall
      3. vote by clicking on the small dots at the lower left of the card
      4. you get up to three votes in total, and can choose to cast all three votes on the same card before the cards are locked

      Video Tutorial Links:

      Basics (4 minutes):

      This video is from a Teacher perspective:

      Longer video – shows how to integrate Pinterest (7 minutes)

      it’s from freetechforteachers.com

      Other Reference Links:

      https://loftinstechtips.blogspot.com/2018/01/dotstorming-as-brainstorming-tool.html

      https://blog.tcea.org/dotstorming/

      Another resource – to compare to Padlet https://scarfedigitalsandbox.teach.educ.ubc.ca/padlet/

    EtherDraw

    Posted in 4-7, 8-12, multimedia creation, Resource | Tagged with , , , , ,

    EtherDraw is an open-source drawing application created by Etherpad in 2015. It is a part of the Sandstorm Open ETC apps project, which is a collection of open-source applications hosted within Canada (thereby following FIPPA guidelines), geared towards educators and students. Ether Draw can be used by students and teachers to draw, paint or write on a live, collaborative platform.   

    Online drawing including collaborative drawing applications are becoming more widespread especially given increased interest in online and blended learning. Many educators who find themselves having to teach remotely are looking for ways to keep students engaged in their learning. Having a platform such as EtherDraw for students and teachers to collaborate virtually is a great way to foster that engagement and to maintain a semblance connection with peers that can sometimes be lost in an virtual setting.

     

    1. Go to oet.sandcats.io
    2. Click on “Sign In”
    3. Click on “Sign In with Email” and enter your UBC email
    4. Go to your inbox, and click on the link provided to activate your account
    5. Create a username and handle, then press “Create”
    6. Go to “Apps”
    7. Press the “Install” button
    8. Search for “Ether Draw”
    9. Once you find the EtherDraw app, press “Install”
    10. Press “Install EtherDraw”

    Now, your Ether Draw account will be set up and you can create drawing and share them with your students and other collaborators!
    *It is important to note, that by utilizing apps within this open collection, you are actually participating in a collective; becoming a part of a community. Please be sure to conduct yourself professionally and collegially within that community. If you encounter difficulty with one of these ‘open’ apps, there is no official paid ‘helpdesk’ but, instead, volunteers who provide support.

    Here, you can test out Ether Draw for yourself!

     

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