Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Turow, Gabriel Seymour

Titel

4-D Thinking: Using rhythm to network domains of knowledge

Ort / Verlag

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

Erscheinungsjahr

2016

Link zum Volltext

• ProQuest

Quelle

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The rhythmic, timing-focused strategies central to playing the drums, throwing on the potter's wheel, and programming games can be called Four-Dimensional Thinking. This theory of learning describes a way to parse time playfully: to improvise in real-time without feeling overwhelmed by strategically breaking information into chunks and associating it with images in one's mind. I came to understand that rhythm, first on the drums, and then in the ceramics studio, and then while programming, was the primary lens through which I translated my own knowledge from one domain to the next. It constituted an auto-didactic analogy-driven learning approach that let me identify the similarities between what I had already learned and the new material I wanted to learn. Writing my dissertation was an effort to translate these learning experiences into a method to teach students how to relate creatively to new and unexplored systems of knowledge, and to understand those systems as rhythmic entities that share similar properties. Using rhythm in this way offers a starting-point for students to begin to link their existing understanding to a new body of knowledge that is rhythmically similar. I summarize the rhythmic strategies that make up 4-D Thinking as mastering accents, repetition, and feel (micro/macro-timing related phenomena) across multiple domains of knowledge. My desire to devise a coherent, relatable, and sharable way to integrate and practice these strategies eventually led me to build my own videogame, Beat Zero, in which the player (student) solves a series of rhythmic drumset puzzles using computer code. Beat Zero was created for iPad and iteratively revised and play-tested over two years. When it was nearing completion, it was pilot focus-grouped with 20 gaming experts, and then further refined. It was then tested in-depth on six individuals with one hour of observed gameplay each. Interviews followed each of these playtests. The pace at which players moved through the levels of the game indicated that they experienced the material at different degrees of difficulty, even though they all interacted relatively fluidly with the interface. Though several minor bugs were observed, all players were able to play through the game for a full hour uninterrupted. All players agreed that the game would be useful for teaching aspects of drumset drumming and programming to someone who was interested in either of those activities, and most players indicated that they enjoyed the animated introduction as a way to draw them into the game's world. I integrated this feedback, along with other changes I decided to make after watching the extended play-sessions. In the process of doing this final software revision, I devised and documented an analogue, tablet-free method for teaching the game's main programming content in a ceramics studio or music practice room.