Designing for the Internet of Things

(^132) | dEsiGninG for EMErGinG tECHnoLoGiEs
Offers intelligent recommendations
The unique value of digital objects is their ability to record data and
respond based on that data. Accordingly, these “endowed objects”
should be intelligent, offering instruction or direction based on
passively collected data.
Each of these principles is meant to describe a desired quality that is
known or believed to bring about noticeable learning gains, compared
to other learning materials. So, how might we use these principles?
Let’s apply these to a few projects, old and new.
CYLINDER BLOCKS: GOOD LEARNING OBJECTS
In many ways, the manipulatives designed by Maria Montessori more
than a century ago satisfy nearly all of these principles. Setting aside
any kind of inherent intelligence, they are very capable objects.
Consider the cylinder blocks shown in Figure 5 - 6. You have several cyl-
inders varying in height and/or diameter that fit perfectly into desig-
nated holes drilled into each block. One intent is to learn about volume
and how the volume of a shallow disc can be the same as that of a nar-
row rod. Additionally, these cylinder block toys help develop a child’s
visual discrimination of size and indirectly prepare a child for writing
through the handling of the cylinders by their knobs.
f gure 5-6. Montessori cylinder blocksi^6
How do these blocks hold up?
6 As featured on Montessori Outlet (http://www.montessorioutlet.com)