Prior to LDT

I was a design professor, consultant, producer of educational media, and environmentalist. For over ten years I was teaching graphic, industrial, and environmental design workshops at several Chilean design schools. My teaching style was “project based learning”. Students learned by doing real projects, in this way connecting the industrial and academic world. My projects, ideas, and workshops focused on Sustainable Design - products that are culturally, economic, and environmentally well designed. I also worked as an independent consultant as well as developing my own projects -pocket books of natural and human heritage.

LDT

Learning Goals
I wanted to understand how people develop cognition, skills, and attitudes. I’m especially interested in young children, so I discovered at Stanford the Bing Nursery School, an amazing place where I had the opportunity to explore ideas and test my educational products. Also I’m interested in environmental education, so I joined several biology field trips where I figured out how undergraduate and graduate students learn from the natural world.

Courses
Fall – Quarter 1
ED 333A – Analyzing Functions and Needs in Learning Environments
ED 229A – Seminar in LDT
ED 180 Directed Research in Plant Biology

Winter – Quarter 2
ED 229B – Seminar in LDT
ED 151 Qualitative Research
PSYC 147 – Child Development
ED 180 Directed Research in Plant Biology

Spring – Quarter 3
ED 229C – Seminar in LDT
ED 362 – Designing Learning Environments
ED 180 – Directed Research in Child Cognition

Summer – Quarter 4
ED 229D – Seminar in LDT
ED 180 Directed Research in Educational Media

Internships
My goal during the internship was to gain experience working in the US in my area of expertise rather than working in a new field. So I consulted in visual communications and environmental design for different institutions and projects on campus such as: PBL Lab at the School of Engineering, Stanford Housing, Stanford Schools Corporation, and Stanford Redesign Network at the School of Education  Master’s Project Territory and Species: Explore Habitats, Animals and Plants of the World

Master’s Project
Territory and Species is futuristic educational software (hybrid between digital encyclopedia and a video game), that permit users (teachers, students and the public) learn about animal, plant, and plant like species of the world, discovering its habitat, behavior, physical characteristics, feeding, lifespan, range, frequency, interdependence, conservation, and importance for humans, in order to understand, appreciate, and preserve the diversity of life on earth. The software allows integrated curricula (Ecology + Botany + Zoology + Geography + Navigation), development of multiple intelligences (spatial, naturalistic, logical, verbal-linguistic, intrapersonal, interpersonal, existential), and open ended, directed, individual, and collaborative learning.
Territory and Species

Life After LDT

I work in three different areas:

Publishing - I’m producing a game to learn about mammals of North America for an American publisher. My business model is designing in Chile, producing in India or China, and selling in the US. Also I’m developing two pocket books for the Chilean market that talk about Chilean heritage; the titles are “50 national parks”, and “50 architects”, that will complement two titles that I launched two years ago: “50 native flowers” and “50 recipes”.

Teaching – I’m teaching classes about how to design educational products at Schools of Education, Communication, and Design in Chile.

Consultation – I consult in the fields of Design, Education and the Environment.