EdTech Experience
STEAM Design and Innovation
Background
In 2017, I discovered a wonderland in Cambridge filled with toys and fun designs. Then I realized it is a STEAM education organization specializing in online learning for K12 students. It used recycled materials to design and build its project. I was attracted by the place, and I did my internship and soon joined as the Art Director there. My effort has resulted in creating and implementing online interactive programs for visual learning and making technology accessible to kids via the arts and constructivist learning.
My Work
1. Invention Universe
An online learning and sharing platform for BIY customers around the world.
I led the visual design and user interface, creating themed “galaxies” that appealed to students across age, gender, and culture (serving audiences in the U.S., Mexico, England, and China). I designed a full set of icons—stars, planets, and tools—that enriched user interaction.
2. Build-It-Blocks Engeneering Database
An engineering modular learning library based on and co-developed with the “Resnick, M.; Eisenberg, M.; Berg, R. Beyond Black Boxes: Bringing Transparency and Aesthetics Back to Scientific Investigation.” framework.
I used SketchUp to turn the module into a diagram and independently storyboarded, shot, and edited the first series of educational videos explaining modules (e.g. open-close module, horizontal to vertical rotation module, catapult module, up-down kicking module), using storytelling, music, and animation to bring complex engineering ideas to life. My work transformed dry mechanical demos into lively, character-driven narratives that bridge science, art, and fun to children.
3. K-12 Creative Curriculum Development
A cross-disciplinary project integrating Scratch, robotics, storytelling and art.
It was my first time learning Scratch programming, Arduino, and how to build a kinetic display that blended storytelling with physical computing.I designed the characters, built the display frame using physical materials, and programmed the interactions between the components. The process involved hours of sketching, prototyping, wiring, testing, and iteration—combining technical learning with artistic expression.The project was taught at Concord Academy with students and became part of the K–12 STEAM curriculum offered through BIY.
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(+/-) is a computer-controlled art and engineering project that explores the history/fairytales throughout the world spectrum and investigates topics that trigger thoughts on a pair of opposing concepts.
The video shown is a pilot study of the whole series. The project’s prototype is a course named Experimental Theater that I’ve developed together with John Galinato. The course questions the standard concept of good and evil and how people's recognition can be reshaped. I found the point important in terms of the already established moral lessons. Experimental Theater offers a blending experience of writing a computer program based on a storyline, designing a puppet with recycled materials and exercising engineering skill by animating the puppet.
I am fascinated by the infinite possibility of the project in terms of invoking the younger generation’s imagination and emotion. It is an interactive project that I hope to collaborate with kids and adults in finding opposing ideas/forces in life, twisting the fixed thinking path, building the “object” and showcasing the works together.
Reflection
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This experience introduced me to the research project “Beyond Black Box”, a collaboration between the organization and MIT’s Lifelong Kindergarten Group, where I first became aware of the Media Lab and its vision of future education and technology as a “soft” medium-flexible, approachable and imaginative.
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At BIY, I regularly met with engineers, which opened my eyes to another spectrum of thinking—one very different from what I had known in the so-called “art world.” I witnessed how engineers approached problems with systems thinking-how they identified challenges, broke them down into small questions, and built solutions in steps.
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My work at BIY led me to reflect more deeply on education itself. What is the balance between education and its practical outcomes—like jobs or income? What kind of learning do children need to thrive in the future? And how to promote art and creativity in curriculum design.