Welcome

Welcome to the website for the Learning About Learning Automata Project, a vibrant showcase of creativity and intellectual exploration designed by students in Dr. Tanya Manning-Lewis’ graduate course. This course invites students to explore diverse Western, non-Western, and Indigenous learning theories and practices. Students later collaborated with local artist and retired teacher Lily Dalley, introduced to the class by Joe Dobson, to bring these theories to life through interactive automata. 

The project challenges students to reimagine how learning is represented and experienced. Working closely with Lily, students generate ideas for the automata project (kinetic sculptures that symbolize the core principles of the learning theories they explore). They documented their creative process, engaged in reflective practice, and presented an interactive exhibit as part of the course experience and requirements. 

The website serves as a hub for sharing this journey with our students. Here, you will find:

Student Projects:  Videos, photos, and written reflections documenting the evolution of their ideas and automata designs.

Theories in Action: Descriptions of the automata and reflective questions for audiences to explore the theories behind each creation.

Interactive Exhibit: Highlights from the public exhibit where students guided peers and faculty through their work, sparking discussions about learning and its representations.

Reflections on Learning: Students’ Final reflections summarizing their insights and the lessons drawn from this immersive process.

Meet the Artist: Lily Dalley

Lily Dalley is a kinetic artist from Kamloops, British Columbia, who creates sculptures mainly from recycled materials or found objects. Through her past travels and school connections in Central America, she developed a fond appreciation for the imaginative and whimsical folk art of the people there, and that certainly influenced her own artistic endeavours. She has no formal training in art but enjoys the many challenges of telling a moving story using gears, cams, pulleys and cranks. You can visit her website page at https://lilyskineticart.ca to see more of her artwork. Lily’s kinetic sculptures are not for sale but are donated to schools or charities for them to use or sell. A few have been auctioned, with funds going to the Kamloops Food Bank. As you engage with Lily’s work, she invites you to play with it, to immerse yourself into the experience as they are intended to be touched!