Welcome to Curious Machines! In this course, we will explore computer science by building curious machines. Situated in the Fimbel Maker & Innovation Lab, this course seeks to demystify the technology around us. Discover how computational thinking bridges interactive physical and digital systems through hands-on lab activities and collaborative projects. Along the way, we'll highlight some of the many beautiful and challenging problems facing computer scientists today. 

Learning Goals & Content

Through this hands-on course, you will:

1. Gain insight into how computers compute

2. Engage in the design process through physical making (e.g., using a laser cutter, 3D printer)

3. Learn fundamentals of electronics and microcontrollers

4. Practice teamwork and communication skills

The course is broken into 3 units, with exposure to hands-on making (laser cutting, 3D printing, wearable circuitry) woven throughout:

Unit 1: Curious Computing
Learn about low-level computing with boolean logic gates and circuits. Can we work together to build a physical adder that performs Curious Computing?

Unit 2: Curious Critters
Acquire knowledge about basic electronics and microcontroller programming. Can you put this together to design a Curious Critter?

Unit 3: Curious Connections
Synthesize the knowledge and skills from Units 1 and 2 to build a distributed virtual Curious World. Each student will build a physical device that communicates with this Curious World, and as a class, we will build an arcade-style machine to glimpse our Curious World. 

Materials

There is no textbook for this course. All instructional materials will be provided through in-class tutorials and supplementary materials posted on the course web site. Physical materials, such as those needed for laser cutting and 3D printing, will be provided to each student.

Expectations

We are so glad you are here and believe you will be able to succeed in this class! To provide baseline clarity, as a 4-credit class, we expect you to commit about 10-12 hours per week: 

• 6 hours of in-person meeting across the Monday and Wednesday afternoon sessions

• 4-6 hours per week of work outside of class meetings

In-class participation

Curiosity

Learning is fueled by curiosity, and we are particularly excited to underscore the role of curiosity in this course. Technology is all around us, and we hope this class helps you to articulate some of the questions you have about how it works and how we as humans can interact with it effectively and responsibly. 

We encourage you to:

• Bring up topics that are sparked by course activities that you are curious about.

• Engage in new activities that are outside of your comfort zone (this is where deep learning can be most effective).

• Challenge yourself strategically to build resilience through reflection on, and recovery from, unexpected moments.

Attendance

This course is built on hands-on learning and lab activities facilitated during in-person class sessions. To cultivate a community of learning, there will be plenty of scaffolded opportunities to work with others and practice communication skills. Consistent engagement with your peers will support a climate where we can learn and build together.

Since instructional materials will generally be delivered through these sessions, missing a class will make it extremely difficult to complete associated and subsequent coursework. If you do end up needing to miss some or all of a class, you remain responsible for any material or announcements covered during that meeting time. Your best strategy is to check with a peer to see what you missed. Except in extraordinary situations and in consultation with your Academic Dean, we (the instructor, TAs and Fimbel staff) will not be able to provide support for missed class sessions.

Therefore, it will be hard to succeed in the course without attending each class session. 

Engagement

Active engagement, particularly during class meetings, will support your learning and contribute to the overall classroom climate. We are invested in your learning and expect that you are invested as well. Please do not hesitate to talk with us about any factors impacting your capacity to engage or strategies to increase your level of engagement.

How does one engage in class? 

When content is being presented, you may find it useful to take notes, jot down questions or think through a simple example.

When working with others, it is important to share the air- and board-space. Beyond contributing your own perspectives and sharing your experiences, consider engaging as a facilitator for your group:

• invite folks to contribute their perspectives (and always give the opportunity to pass)

• identify other modes of communication (e.g., drawing on the whiteboard, writing individually before sharing out)

• actively listen and mirror what you heard; highlight common themes or salient differences

• be aware of the space and consider when to step up to take up space, and when to make room for more voices

We will use this rubric to assess your approach to engagement in the course. 

Logistics

Activities & Grading

Your learning will be supported through a variety of activities:

• In-class engagement (individual and groupwork)

• Out-of-class assignments that vary by unit, roughly categorized into:

  • Homeworks for practice (worksheets, programming tasks)

  • Projects for synthesis (a tangible interactive artifact with associated slide deck and video)

Your final grade will be determined according to the following distribution:

In-class engagement 25%

Homeworks (~8) 30%

Projects (1 per unit) 45%
Unit 1 (Curious Computing): 10%
Unit 2 (Curious Critter): 15%
Unit 3 (Curious World): 20%

Honor code

Mount Holyoke College is a community of students, faculty, staff, and administrators committed to free inquiry and the pursuit of knowledge in the tradition of the liberal arts. The decision to join this academic community requires acceptance of special rights and responsibilities that are essential for its effective functioning and the realization of its mission. All members of the community share the responsibility to uphold the highest standards of academic integrity.

We expect all your work to abide by the MHC Honor Code and trust that you are committed to your academic journey by learning through challenging yourself: 

“I will honor myself, my fellow students, and Mount Holyoke College by acting responsibly, honestly, and respectfully in both my words and deeds.” 

Any work that does not will be reported to the Academic Honor Board. For more detail on what constitutes an academic violation of the Honor Code, please see the College ​Academic Rights and Responsibilities webpage.

If you are at all unsure about what is acceptable, please just ask!

Here are some general guidelines:

Do

• Talk to your peers about the labs, projects and topics

• Organize study or working groups

• Consult and acknowledge other books or the internet for inspiration and clarifications

• Ask the instructor or TA to help you find bugs in your code

• Acknowledge peers or TA that you worked with for anything you turn in

Since we expect that you will use the internet heavily for tutorials from the “makerspace” community, you MUST acknowledge any tutorials/resources you consulted or followed for your projects by providing a list of URLs. If you used or adapted code, place a comment at the top with the source of the original code.

Don't

• Submit work that isn't yours: it is against the honor code to have somebody else do work for you (including TAs or tutors) or to copy it from somewhere else (including books or the internet).

• Blindly copy/paste material from other sources. You must be able to explain your reasoning for any work you submit, even if the reasoning is "I still do not understand this part because ___".

AI Usage Policy

In the spirit of curiosity of how tech impacts (and will impact) our world, AI is encouraged with certain tasks and with attribution. When AI is prohibited, the assignment will clearly and explicitly state what materials you are allowed to consult. When not prohibited, you can choose to use AI tools to help brainstorm assignments or projects or to revise existing work you have written. Note that using Gemini with your Mount Holyoke account keeps your data in a "walled garden" and Google does not use it to train their models. When you submit your assignment, we expect you to clearly attribute what text was generated by the AI tool (e.g., AI-generated text appears in a different colored font, quoted directly in the text, or use an in-text parenthetical citation). 

You may wish to review the LITS guide on AI as well as the Guidelines for the Ethical Use of Generative AI.

About academic accommodations: 

We are committed to supporting all learners in our class and recognize that MHC is required to provide reasonable academic accommodations to disabled students who have a documented disability-related access need. Disability Services works with students to determine reasonable accommodations, which are protected by civil rights laws and regulations. Since DS distributes accommodations letters each semester that lists the individualized accommodations for each course at the request of the student, we invite you to discuss logistics for accommodations implementation with the primary instructor (Audrey) during office hours or via email within the first two weeks of the semester (or as soon as your accommodations are established with Disability Services). 

Title IX/Responsible Reporter

If you or someone you know has been a victim of discrimination, harassment or violence based on sex or gender and you would like to talk to someone about our resources, please contact the Title IX Coordinator, Shannon Lynch at ​titleixofficer@mtholyoke.edu​.

As a faculty, we are responsible reporters for any information we learn that may be a violation of our Gender-based and Sexual Misconduct Policy. This means that we will need to share this information with our Title IX Coordinator, Shannon Da Silva. This could be anything related to sexual assault, dating violence, stalking or sex or gender-based harassment. If you are experiencing any of these things and you want to talk with someone who is not a responsible reporter, we can help direct you to private and confidential resources on campus (Counseling Service, Health Services, and Alcohol and Drug Awareness Project. These offices have a legal mandate for confidentiality. These offices are not required to turn over identifying information to the Title IX coordinator but may provide anonymous data to the Title IX coordinator for reporting requirements of the Clery Act).

Sexual harassment 

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (“Title IX”) is a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs and activities. Under Title IX, discrimination on the basis of sex can include sex-based harassment, gender-based harassment, sex- or gender-based discrimination, sexual assault and other forms of sexual misconduct, including stalking and domestic and dating violence. In accordance with current federal regulations and court decisions, Mount Holyoke follows the 2020 Title IX Regulations. Our Sexual Harassment Policy and procedures ensure compliance with these regulations, as well as other federal and state laws. For information regarding support, help and resources, please contact the Title IX Coordinator, Shannon Lynch at ​titleixofficer@mtholyoke.edu​.

Nondiscrimination and anti-harassment 

The College does not discriminate against any employee, applicant for employment, student or applicant for admission on the basis of actual or perceived: age; citizenship status; color; creed; disability; domestic violence victim status; ethnicity; familial responsibilities; genetic information; marital status; national origin/ancestry; personal appearance; political belief or affiliation; race; religion; residence; source of income; veteran or military status; weight; or any other protected characteristic under applicable local, state, or federal law. These values are spelled out within our updated Nondiscrimination and Anti-Harassment Policies and procedures. These policies and procedures will apply to any allegation of discrimination, harassment or retaliation, excluding allegations that fall within the definitions in the Sexual Harassment Policy above.

Audio/Visual Recording Policy 

To encourage active engagement and academic inquiry in the classroom, as well as to safeguard the privacy of students and faculty, no form of audio or visual recording in the classroom is permitted without explicit permission from the professor/instructor or without a letter from AccessAbility Services, signed by the faculty member, authorizing the recording as an accommodation. Authorized recordings may only be used by a student who has obtained permission and may not be shared or distributed for any reason. Violation of this policy is an infraction of the Mount Holyoke Honor Code and academic regulations and will result in disciplinary action.

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