Adinkra Computing at The Butzel Recreation Center

On February 22 and 29 we provided some backup support for Professor Michael Lachney’s and MSU’s Office of K12 Outrearch work with the adinkra CSDT at the Butzel recreation center in Detroit. Students began by breaking into 4 groups to discuss 4 cultural background sections (origins, making, spirals, and stamping). They reported their findings by creating posters, and then used the software to create their own virtual simulations of the designs. One of the highlights was using soft playdough (colored blobs on the poster to the left), so that they could see and feel how the traditional stamps could make a pattern. Lachney not only encouraged kids from the rec center to join but also parents. This resulted in multi-generational workshops, with kids and their guardians engaged together creating virtual stamps and then physically rendering them to print on t-shirts.