Project Proposal for My Senior Project

9/30

Project idea 1: a visually aesthetic program/game that can be used as a math learning tool

Using Processing, I want to create an interactive program/game that can be used as a learning tool to practice elementary level mathematics. Young students seem to be more focused and involved when learning is more interactive and game like, especially when the material is on an electronic medium rather than the typical textbook. Also, some students tend to learn better visually rather than through hearing or reading. In my program, I want to put more emphasis on the graphics and motions of the visuals so that the piece camouflages the educational aspect and allows the player to experience some sense of visual aesthetic. Instead of displaying numbers and mathematical functions, the program will consist of random shapes that change in size, amount, and color in relation to the numerical values. The player will use the mouse to move around objects and solve simple math calculations, and visual effects will let them know whether the answer was correct or not.

The most difficult part of the project for me is to come up with how the game exactly works, the rules of the game, and how to present everything as artistic visuals (since I would like to avoid having numbers appearing on the screen). Through some research, I found several artistic programs that create dynamic visuals when interacted through the mouse clicker. These programs called Studio Toys are written by students from Columbia University GSAPP Advanced Studio VI. Their studio, “Computing Kaizen,” explores “evolutionary architectural structure and their potential to anticipate change and internalize complex relations¹.” Their programs contain building blocks that can self-organize and morph into creative forms. The creators of Studio Toys used Processing to create these programs. In addition to the design of the program/game, another difficult aspect would be writing the code on Processing.