As time runs out and completion of the Studio project draws near, I find myself making more and more revisions to my original plans. I don't know how realistic it will be for me to complete a Hyperstudio project, an interactive web page, and a Stagecast simulation by next Friday. I may have to cut out the web page if things continue the way they are going. My frustration level is getting higher each day. Right now I am frustrated with small things that are not going the way they should.

I just finished reading chapter 6 of Constructionism in Practice, and found some things of interest that echoed my own thoughts about design. In this chapter, Greg Gargarian says that "[designing] is in large part redesigning (editing, debugging, or refining)." I liked this idea not only because I think it is true for design, but also because I think it applies to a variety of different contexts. I am a language arts teacher, and I cannot stress enough to my students the importance of editing and revising. I believe it is important to revisit thoughts, ideas, and writings over time in order to develop them more fully. Writing (and designing) is not a static process, nor does it truly ever end. I have pieces of writing that I "finished" years ago, which, when I reread them, I still find things to change. The trick is learning how to say, "I'm done." Perfectionists have a hard time with this idea. Regardless, I think Gargarian makes a valuable point when he says that designing is in constant flux - it evolves just as writing, art, music, and other creative products evolve.

This idea of evolution definitely applies to my Studio project. As soon as I finish with a draft of one of my Hyperstudio stacks, I have to go back over it with a fine tooth comb to pick out all of the bugs, to make it more aesthetically pleasing, or to organize it in more logical ways. Feedback from others is a very important part of this process as well. As I mentioned in one of my previous reflections, critical examination by an outside, objective party brings perspective (as Edith Ackerman mentioned in chapter 2) to a project. I am, by nature, very detail oriented when it comes to my own work, and perhaps many other people are as well. I become so highly focused on small pieces that I reach a point where I can't see the whole. This is when it is important to have an outsider examine my work and give me feedback.

One other thing that Gargarian mentioned in chapter 6 that grabbed my attention was his analogy of education and mass production. I agree with his idea that teachers are "programmed" to educate children by the masses. We are so governed by achieving the ever-present and all powerful curriculum objectives that there is no time for the more valuable learning experiences that Papert discussed in chapter 1. Gargarian says that "mass education has deskilled society." I agree with him. We've figured out the causes for all of these problems we face in education, but the question is, "How do we fix them?" I think that the Discovery Village idea is a step in the right direction, but it will require states, communities, educators, and parents to make some major paradigm shifts in their thinking about what learning is and what it should be.