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[Observe a Child] [Analyze a Children's Artifact] [Critical Essay] [Produce a Children's Artifact]

  Assignment 4: Construct a children's artifact

Proposal due: Thursday, February 7th

Artifact due: Thursday, March 9th

Description: Produce/construct/implement a game, toy, program, book, or other artifact for children. Examples include: writing a children's story, implementing a video game, building a children's toy, filming a segment of a children's show. Then write 3-4 pages about the underlying assumptions about children/childhood that are pre-supposed by your artifact, along with an annotated bibliography consisting of at least 8 references (grad students are to supply 12 references) that have influenced your development of this artifact. You will be bringing the artifact in to present to the class.

We will discuss potential projects during Lab on Tuesday, January 31st.  Please come prepared with ideas and ready to respond to your peers' ideas.

What to turn in:

  • 1 page proposal of the artifact and annotated bibliography is due Thursday, February 7th.  Email a Word or rich-text document to andrea <at> cs <dot> northwestern <dot> edu and justine <at> northwestern <dot> edu by the beginning of class and bring a printout to class. 

    Please name the file attachment as follows:  <Last names of author(s)>_ArtifactProposal_CC_W06 for example: Cassell_Tartaro_ArtifactProposal_CC_W06.doc

  • Prepare a 5 minute presentation of your artifact for class on Thursday, March 9th.  Your presentation should include a short demo of your artifact and a description of the theories that influenced its development.
  • Email a Word or rich-text document of your write-up and bibliography to andrea <at> cs <dot> northwestern <dot> edu and justine <at> northwestern <dot> edu by the beginning of class and bring a printout to class. 

    Please name the file attachment as follows:  <Last names of author(s)>_FinalArtifact_CC_W06 for example: Cassell_Tartaro_FinalArtifact_CC_W06.doc

  • Hand in your artifact after class on March 9th.

Grading: 25% of your final grade.  Your grade is based on creativity and quality of construction of your artifact, how well you choose theories from class and assigned readings that reflect the representation of childhood in your artifact, and use those theories in the development of your artifact.

Collaborative work is required for this assignment.   You may work in groups of 2-3 people.  You will present your artifact to the class in groups. You have the choice of turning in separate written reports of your work by each group member, or one single report for the group.  However, if you turn in one single written report for the entire group, you must also submit a written description of what each student contributed to the assignment.  In order to make sure that your collaboration falls within the Northwestern guidelines of academic integrity, you must read : http://www.northwestern.edu/uacc/ and http://www.northwestern.edu/uacc/plagiar.html.