An Overview of the Ledger Art Curriculum
This curriculum introduces students to programming physical computational
artifacts through an exploration of past and contemporary ledger art by tribal
members of Montana.
Section 1: Ledger Art
Students are introduced to the seven tribes of Montana through personal stories,
a map of tribal lands, and symbolism in tribal seals. Students discuss the
creation of reservations in order to learn about the origins of ledger art.
Ledger art is an art
form that originated on the reservations by using available materials (the ledgers).
Students analyze contemporary Montana ledger art through symbolism. Students
begin to consider stories from their lives that they want to represent in the style
of ledger art and consider the symbolic representations they will use to convey
a visual narrative.
Section 2: Circuits
Students are introduced to simple, parallel, and computational circuits in their quest
to add LEDs and computational functionality to their ledger art projects. Science
concepts such as current, polarity, voltage, and conductors are explored. Students
design a circuit on their ledger art projects using a microcontroller and LEDs
to emphasize key symbolic representations of their visual narratives.
Section 3: Programming
Students use pair programming techniques to code the LEDs on their ledger art
projects to emphasize key elements of their visual narratives. Students are
introduced to algorithms, functions and debugging. Students use their ledger art
inspired projects to share their stories.
Section 4: Encryption
Students are introduced to communication protocols and reflect on their ledger
art projects as a form of communication. Students create a binary message sending
device using any materials in their area to develop a method of communicating
a “yes or no” response. Students are introduced to binary using visual cards and use
a structured card game to convert numbers in decimal to binary. Students reflect
on the privacy of information and how we hide our stories from some. Students
are introduced to encryption, and create a communication protocol that translates
the letters of the alphabet to decimal and then to binary. Students use starter
code to program the NeoPixels on the microcontroller on their ledger art project
to display a message in binary representation as a way to encrypt a private message
as another layer on their already functioning ledger art project. Students are
introduced to nonverbal communication methods such as sign language used and nearly
lost by Montana tribes.
Section 5: Storytelling
Students discuss the importance and power of telling stories. Students are introduced
to human-computer interaction and discuss the ways humans interact with technology
to tell their stories. Students are introduced to sensors, collect data using
the sound sensor on the microcontroller, and discuss the diversity of data of
multiple users. Students discuss the need for inclusive design when making new
technologies. Students tell their stories to their
peers, supplemented by the symbolic narratives of their ledger art projects.
Students discuss data ownership and discuss tribal sovereignty in a case study
where Montana tribal leaders initiated trainings for tribal health leaders to
collect and analyze health data.