At the risk of overgeneralizing, the year of 2020 was a strange time for everyone. Be it colossal or minute, most people experienced change in their daily lives. And change is, or can be, good! I once was given the phrase that “without discomfort, there is no growth” and I have held onto that for many years now, allowing the truth of it to manifest. Personally, within the span of six months, I quarantined due to a global pandemic, no longer went to work and saw students each day, my husband returned from a nine month deployment, we moved to a new state, I took a new, fully virtual job, and we got a dog (the best change of them all!). The stressful environment created by the coronavirus is one that has been challenging to navigate and taught me more than I could have predicted about empathy and the value of time. I have also been fascinated by the psychology of people and their reactions during this time, though before now I didn’t quite have the language to describe it. Recent reading for my graduate course about habits and behaviors, and specifically how we develop and change them, has given me a new understanding of the world around me. In her article on classical conditioning, Kendra Cherry (2019) writes that behaviorism is based on the assumption that all learning occurs through interactions with the environment and the environment shapes these behaviors. So considering the environment of the past year, it is no surprise that many behaviors have been shaped by it. Educational psychologist Thorndike’s proposed Law of Effect (as described by Resnick & Ford, 1981) tells us that actions with a more desirable outcome are more likely to be repeated. Throughout our lifetimes, we are conditioned to avoid getting sick. Being stuck at home with a stuffy nose, fever, and chills is not a pleasant experience, and most people have been sick at some point in their life. So a stimulus, say a person who coughs or sneezes or is visibly ill, causes a response, us creating distance to avoid that person’s germs and washing our hands as soon as we can. We’ve been conditioned to seek a negative reinforcer, not getting sick, to avoid positive punishment, catching a bug that makes us feel crummy. But with the coronavirus being more than “just a bug,” we’ve had to change our habits. This is hard, but not impossible, and hence part of why 2020 has been such a difficult one for many. Our old habit loops (Duhigg, 2012) may have looked something like this:
In The Power of Habit, Duhigg (2012) writes about how researchers learned throughout the twentieth century that the golden rule of changing a habit is to keep an old cue and reward while inserting a new routine that satisfies the craving. For example, The CDC encouraged quarantining and avoiding social gatherings, and it was shown as effective in reducing the spread of the coronavirus. This required people to ignore their craving for social interaction and the way they typically went about completing their daily tasks (grocery shopping, going to work in an office, etc). Many of us did quarantine and social distance, and the psychology of habit change helps explain why this was so hard! We were trying to suppress a craving and ignore cues, and therefore we weren’t getting the rewards we were used to. Asking people to wear a mask, however, allows for the craving to be satisfied with the same cue and reward. The change is in the middle of the habit loop - in the routine. Now, when I leave my house to go to the grocery store or on a stroll with my newly adopted dog, my routine includes putting on a mask. I make no claims that the problems we encountered as a country and a global community were solved when the clock struck midnight and we rang in 2021. We’re very much still in the trenches of a global pandemic, among many other challenges, but I am now able to put some of my feelings, observations, and understandings into words, and for me, that’s something. References
Cherry, K. (2019, September 5). Classical conditioning: How it works with examples. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/classical-conditioning-2794859 Duhigg, C. (2012). The power of habit: Why we do what we do in life and business. Random House. Resnick, L. B., & Ford, W. W. (1981). The psychology of mathematics for instruction. Routledge.
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My graduate class exploring computational thinking is coming to an end this week. As I finish this chapter of my Master’s in educational technology, I reflected on what I’ve learned about computational thinking since September and most importantly, how I can apply it to the classroom. Here’s an imaginary (somewhat cheesy) conversation with a colleague explaining WHY CT?! and advocating for it in all classrooms.
Me: Hi friend! It’s been tough teaching and living through a pandemic. How are you doing? Teacher: I’m okay… Good and bad days, just like my students. I recently heard someone mention teaching CT skills in my classroom to enrich learning. Do you know what that’s all about? Me: I do, actually! I’ve been spending the last year or so learning about computational thinking (that’s what CT means) and how to apply it to my classroom. You might be surprised that CT is involved in a lot more than just computer programming! Your students are probably using a lot of CT skills, or close to it right now. Teacher: Wait, really?! That’s sooo cool! Tell me more. Me: I’m so excited to share! First, let’s look at the definitions of eight terms. Understanding these will help you understand CT that much better.
Teacher: So I need a computer for everything? We don’t have one-to-one devices and scheduling time to use the computer lab is just a nightmare. Me: False! It may sound like you need to be teaching your students to program a computer, or at least be working on a computer in order to teach CT. But that’s entirely untrue! CT is present in every subject at every grade level…
Teacher: So computational thinking has nothing to do with a computer? Me: Well, also no. The examples above are unplugged. You can do lots of unplugged computer science lessons to teach CT. It’s a way of thinking, not only a way of doing. Eventually a student may write a computer program, but they can learn what an algorithm is without ever touching a keyboard. Teacher: You’re starting to interest me more, now. Where can I find an unplugged lesson to try out? Me: I teach elementary, so that’s my focus when I search. Code.org has lots, but it’s definitely not the only resource. One of my favorite unplugged lessons they share is this one on “Relay Programming.” It’s a great connection to physical education and coding sequences for elementary. It also has a warm up where the teacher models debugging and tools to use to de-escalate frustration (a social emotional skill kids can use lots of practice on). This activity gets kids moving, collaborating, and sequencing. It’s important to make connections to computers at the end, though, so that students realize that unplugged skills can be applied to “plugged in” environments and not think that it’s just about relay activities in PE class. Teacher: That’s awesome! I never would have put coding and PE together. What other subjects can I integrate with? Me: EVERYTHING! That’s what’s amazing. Computational thinking skills should be taught explicitly, but they don’t have to be taught only in a computer science class. It can be integrated into any core content, too. Here’s an example I created using a simulation for erosion with fourth graders and here’s a unit plan for tying animal stimuli and responses to algorithms. Kids can learn about their fourth grade science content and apply CT to demonstrate their understanding. Learning about simulation, students interact with a computer model. When they explore animal stimuli, they get to be the coders of the program themselves. It’s so important for ALL students to see themselves as programmers at a young age instead of thinking that’s an “adult thing” or “boy thing” or “___ thing.” Teacher: I am so excited to explore those resources and introduce my students to CT. Thank you! Me: My pleasure! It has been wonderful to learn about! The inner workings of technology may be a mystery to some... Likely a mystery to many. And that can lead us to believe it's invincible. There's no way a computer could be biased, right? It doesn't have eyes or feelings or a brain. It's all just math! (Well, there's artificial intelligence... But that's a different story!)
But that could not be more wrong. What one must consider is not the computer's bias, but those of who programs the computer. The groundwork had to be laid somewhere, somehow, by someone. Everyone has a bias, some more than others, and these get built into the computer systems that we so regularly use and deeply rely on in 2020 (think Google Maps, Apple app store suggestions, Facebook news, Instagram ads, and more). Hao and Stray provide a great illustration of the biases involved in the computerized system courts use to help decide whether an accused party gets bail. Though they do not technically take race into account, the decisions are still disproportionately racist against people of color. O'Neil paints a sad, yet very real picture of a talented teacher who was wronged by the computer system used for student testing and teacher evaluations. A school lost out on an impactful educator and an educator lost a pay check due to a score that was "too complicated" to explain in words. As I read about some of the social issues in computing this week, I was both amazed and horrified at the impact that tech companies can have on my life and my access to information. As cited by O'Neil (2016) in Weapons of Math Destruction, Karrie Karahalios, a researcher from University of Illinois, found that 62% of people were unaware that Facebook tinkered with the system and didn't realize that they did not simply see the posts that their friends made on their timelines. While I'm not quite that naïve, cue "Instagram algorithm" being a buzzword this year, the examples that O'Neil illustrates in Weapons of Math Destruction made me realize that there is so much more happening than I fathomed. One example that stuck with me was Facebook researching user moods and how the statuses seen can affect those others post. A bit scary to consider how a social media company can purposely toy with emotions. These realizations beg a consideration of how I as an educator can help teach my students to be wise users of technology and to be critical of the equity issues brought up. In my fourth grade classroom. this starts with lessons on digital citizenship and an understanding of how words (spoken or typed) have an effect on those around them. Using a critical lens, we can look at biases from authors and practice identifying real news instead of taking everything at face value. Though it seems high level for nine and ten year old kids, they're using technology each day. I think it vital to equip them to interact with it instead of making fruitless attempts to keep them from using YouTube, Google, etc. Elementary students in my experience have a deep desire for things to be fair, and this is such an important topic to tap into at a young age. What's fair for technology to do without us knowing? Who can fairly use technology? When is it fair to use a computer to make a decision? All questions our future generations will deal with and ones educators can [hopefully] help them answer wisely. Hao, K. & Stray, J. 2019, October 17. Can you make AI fairer than a judge? Play our courtroom algorithm game. MIT Technology Review. https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/10/17/75285/ai-fairer-than-judge-criminal-risk-assessment-algorithm O'Neil, C. (2016). Weapons of math destruction: How big data increases inequality and threatens democracy. New York: Basic Books If I were to say the word abstraction, what comes to your mind?
Abstraction is a process that is, well, abstract! It may seem a bit strange or confusing, like first looking at one of Picasso's famous works of art. But what can come from staring at that piece of artwork is beautiful and helps us to understand a phenomenon just a little bit better. That's abstraction! Removing much of the "other stuff" from a big, complicated idea so that we can focus on just one small aspect. Just like artists, writers, and scientists abstract ideas, computer scientists use this computational thinking skill often. As us educators help our students develop their computational thinking skill set, abstraction is an important part of the list. Our students are already using abstractions and even doing it themselves. For example, you are teaching a math class and ask at the end of a lesson, "Are there any questions?" Naturally, kids are curious and have lots of questions! Knowing to only ask questions about the math lesson you taught means that student is abstracting just what needs to be focused on in that moment. There will be time for writing or science or "what's for lunch" questions another time. (Now some littles are still learning this concept and we elementary teachers get all sorts of random questions after a math lesson! That just goes to show that as students grow and age, they're capable of developing this skill.) Here are some ideas for introducing, using, and teaching abstraction in the classroom:
But simply defining abstraction or asking students to use it isn't enough. The key to teaching students abstraction is to have come up with the abstraction themselves AND reflect on it. How did they choose what to abstract from a diagram, story, etc? How do they know it's a good abstraction of that math problem or that text? How does the abstraction lead to a deeper understanding of what they're studying? Asking students to reflect on this process of computational thinking helps them with metacognition and being critical thinkers. Taking it one step further, students could use these abstractions to create a computer program that uses their mathematical formula for calculating area, perimeter, etc. Computers rely on abstractions and a good abstraction relies on the power of computational thinking. Algorithms. Decomposition. Two words we may have heard before, but what do they really mean? In computational thinking (CT), these are two very important terms. We can make them very complicated or we can make them very simple; I prefer the latter. Algorithms are a set of steps that, if always followed correctly, will always lead to the correct answer. Decomposition is as the word itself suggests - breaking down a large problem into smaller, more manageable bits.
As I study computational thinking in my graduate school course, I shared some of my learning with another educator (who also happens to be my sister and, in my opinion, one of the best high school English and history teachers there is!). My brain tends to live in the math/science/elementary space, so it is fascinating to talk "teacher things" with her and I always learn something new. Today's conversation was no different. I spent some time teaching her about algorithms and decomposition and then it was her turn to teach me. Naturally, computational thinking lends itself to math and science, or STEM fields. I was glad to take on the challenge of finding connections to humanities disciplines, although this came with some hurdles. Algorithms and decomposition are not something that an English and history teacher thinks about each day, whether or not she and her students are using such thinking processes. I had to find the key ideas that I wanted to communicate about CT and then explain these in a succinct, clear manner. But what great practice for working with children! Isn't that the same way I want to convey my ideas to them? She found a few examples in her practice that aligned with her understanding of algorithms and decomposition. Her English students write often, and without knowing it, use an algorithm for doing so. Following the traditional writing process of brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing is supposed to give them the most polished piece of writing they can produce. The traditional essay itself is also an algorithm: write an introductory paragraph to hook your readers, three body paragraphs of evidence supporting your thesis, and a conclusion to hammer in your point. Five paragraphs to perfection. An as for decomposition, a jigsaw is on the plans for next week. Students will each read a primary document from history and then share out with a group about their findings to identify the six major reformations of the United States' Progressive Era. A daunting task for one is broken down into more manageable pieces by a group of students. In my own teaching, I constantly introduce algorithms... For multiplication and division, for the scientific method, for lining up at the door and for rotating through our math workshop stations. One thing I would like to work on and I would share with sister and teacher friend is how powerful it can be to make these thinking processes visible to students. Perhaps they could even come up with the algorithm on their own! An impactful writing lesson could include reading some well-written essays and asking students to come pu with a "formula" for a good piece of writing. The teacher could guide them toward the traditional five paragraph essay format without even introducing the concept to them! How empowering for a high schooler. Or perhaps when introducing a jigsaw to her students, she could explain that they're decomposing this large task and explain her reasoning for doing the assignment that way. A small, yet meaningful change to introduce more CT to more students. Exploring these concepts and having a chance to talk with my sister was such a great way to examine algorithms and decomposition as I include CT in my own classroom, as well as share these ideas with others. Tender, strong, silly and smart, elephants tug at our emotions and, perhaps, we at theirs. Watch any elephant closely and you'll quickly notice intelligence in their eyes, as well as the sense of playfulness. -Jessica Tracy As I created this video about my journey over the past eight weeks, I searched for a song that would be just right. I stumbled upon “Everything We Wanted” by Pure Mids opening with the line, “feels the same but everything is changing,” and it really struck me. This year has felt routine in ways, but it has also been a season of growth. I got married and my husband deployed, started grad school, live across the country from family, and have taken on the role of grade chair. I reflected on my identity. My intersectionality of white, female, heterosexual, and ablebodied. My career as an educator and innovator. My personality as optimistic, kind, and adventurous. Myself as a traveler, wife, daughter, sister, friend, yogi, writer, hiker, and artist. And I have dreams to be more. This video attempts to represent all these parts, and my journey through making and innovating in my classroom this semester. I broke a filter bubble, delved into copyright, explored Universal Design for Learning, and redesigned my classroom. I learned to be okay with imperfection and view failure as iteration. What beneficial topics to learn working in areas of diversity and need. I love teaching yet am more than a teacher. I’ve taken this perspective with my students, too. Outside the walls of my classroom, they are other things -- athletes, sons, daughters, readers, sisters, brothers, pranksters, friends. I wish for my classroom to accept them as they are and allow them to blossom into more. The video ends in an elephant-shaped collage. I came across a post in my research quoting a Greek tablet. It says to watch any elephant closely and you’ll notice both intelligence and playfulness (Tracy, 2018) This is what I hope for myself and for the lives of my students. References
Everything we wanted [Recorded by Pure Mids]. Single track [mp3]. Dreamtime Palace. Retrieved from https://www.jamendo.com/track/1657649/everything-we-wanted?language=en Tracy, Jessica. (2018, August 19). Elephant symbolism and elephant spiritual meaning [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://7chakrastore.com/blogs/news/elephant-symbolism-and-elephant-spiritual-meaning This week I was asked to show the learning environment that my students and I experience each day. We all “experience” our environments each day, as David Kelley (2002) discusses in his TED Talk. This task posed a big challenge for two major reasons: I am not fluent with design software AND I have always simply worked with what I had. Being asked to imagine a space that would allow my learners and I to flourish and then create that using technology? Woah. I began by sketching and listing, two of my favorite things. Here’s my hand drawn masterpiece and a digital version of my current classroom created with Room Styler. As I decided what to keep, I put myself in my students’ shoes. Flexible seating is a key, research-based component in my classroom to empower my students with choice. This is something that I wanted to expand upon in my redesign, not inhibit. Additionally, we gather each morning for a “community circle” on our carpet, and my students have voiced to me how valuable this part of our day is. KEEP
Wishes were pretty easy as I often find myself saying, “if only I had…” during the day. It’s Christmastime and my family has a whole email chain dedicated to wish lists! But seriously, research shows that “classroom design could be attributed to a 25% impact, positive or negative, on a student’s progress over the course of an academic year” (Vanhemert, 2013). Twenty-five percent! That’s a big number when you consider we as teachers are typically given just four white walls and 25 desks. As I researched and learned more about “the third teacher” in the classroom (Cannon Design, 2010), the physical space, I asked myself why I wanted certain components. This is as much their space as mine and it should be adapted to meet both our needs. WISHES
Experts ask that we “look at [our] learning space with 21-st century eyes,” (Cannon Design, 2010, p. 56) but teachers are rarely given a matching budget. My sister, Erin, a talented interior designer who works on designing 21-st century office spaces each day, has a wealth of knowledge on this topic. I collaborated with her and she took my simple designs to a whole new level with some of her design software! It was a lot of fun to see how our vastly different careers came together during this project. I also learned that quality furniture is not cheap and her field requires a lot of talent. Allowances for these learning spaces ideally should come from the “top down,” but for now, I plan to work within my means to provide the best possible spaces I can for my students! References
Cannon Design (2010, April 1). The third teacher. New York, NY: Abrams. Kelley, David. (February 2002). Human-centered design [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/david_kelley_human_centered_design Vanhemert, Kyle. (2013, January 18). Study shows how classroom design affects student learning. Retrieved from https://www.fastcompany.com/1671627/study-shows-how-classroom-design-affects-student-learning I have been creating, and iterating, an innovative learning experience (fancy name for a lesson plan, huh? Let’s call it an ILEP!) over the past two weeks and I’m ready to share it with you! That does not by any means imply that it is done (are we ever really “done”?) but it is in a stage of finality that I am proud of. In a nutshell, this ILEP asks my fourth grade scientists to use Circuit Stickers to create a constellation seen during their birth month. Further, they may choose to write or verbally explain why that constellation can be seen during that time of the year based on an understanding of patterns of seasonal change. The project ends with a dark room gallery walk to view the night sky through the work of all scholars in our classroom. Fitting that it’s Thanksgiving week and a time where we in the United States tend to express our gratitude, I was reminded of how thankful I am for my peers, instructors, and those in my “teaching tribe” for the feedback and growth they afford me. MY ILEP would not be here without the thoughtful comments that I received this past week. Here’s what my ILEP looked like after the feedback phase - bursting with comments and ideas to work with. Exploring Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and intersectionality (see more about that on my blog post from last week) gave my peers and I new lenses to critique with. I made a few relatively small changes but with a huge UDL impact. It was suggested to give my students multiple means of expression and allow choice in how students construct their explanation. My original plan asked students to write out their understanding of seasonal change, but my improved plan allows students to write or verbally explain in a short Flipgrid video. Students are still meeting the same science standard, but in a way that works best for them. Students with difficulty reading and writing may prefer a verbal option while shyer students may prefer to express themselves with text. I also added more resources, details, and “tinker time” where students could explore the task and technology, make mistakes, and ideate with peers. One aspect I did not change was the rubric where students are graded. I asked if anything needed clarification, but as I attempted to clarify the scientific explanation instructions, I felt that I was simply “giving away” the answers of what students may write. I want their explanation of constellation change based on seasonal patterns to be more organic and truly assess what they understand about Earth’s rotation and revolution. Rubrics are hard! How do we make them clear and concise, yet also allow for creativity and expression? I’m still searching for that delicate balance. As I gave feedback to my peers, my students were at the forefront of my mind. I first searched out positive points to comment on - in this case, particularly ones that addressed UDL and provided multiple means of representation, engagement, and action/expression. I strive to do this each day - both personally and professionally. Our first interactions with our students need to be positive, and a critique to a colleague is much better received when they are also accustomed to hearing me sing their praises. Griping to a spouse when I walk in the door makes for an unpleasant evening; I’d rather enter with gratitude and grace. Once I noted the glowing aspects, I was able to ask questions, request clarification, and provide suggestions for growth. The challenge here was doing this through the perspective of intersectionality. We were asked to view the plan through an identity different than our own. As I gave feedback on a lesson using virtual reality goggles, I focused on the challenges this may present to a student with limited mobility or a student in a wheelchair. These are not challenges I think about each day or during my own lesson planning, so I had to step outside of my comfort zone. As I think about moving forward with my ILEP, I envision big smiles and deep conversations in my classroom. Stay tuned! This week was a busy one! Aside from fitting everything in before Thanksgiving break (because as teachers, we can’t leave loose ends, right?), I’ve been exploring intersectionality and universal design for learning. Those are some big words. They’re even bigger ideas. IntersectionalityA term coined by Kimberle Crenshaw in 1989, intersectionality is the overlapping of our various identities. Crenshaw likens this concept to intersecting roads. If there were to be an accident in an intersection, the cause was likely due in part to both parties driving down the streets that crossed paths. This intersectionality means that challenges one may face due to his or her identity complicate when overlapping. For example, a black woman may face both racism and sexism, but it is impossible to put a finger on exactly which causes what. In our classrooms, it is important that teachers are aware of these intersections and intentionally structure our classrooms and lessons to support students in these crossroads rather than further isolating them. Check out this brief video or this TED talk by Crenshaw herself to better understand this complex issue. Universal Design for Learning (UDL)According to CAST (2010), “research shows that the way people learn is as unique as their fingerprints.” One way to make our classrooms accessible for all learners, regardless of identity, challenges, and intersectionality, is to use the UDL framework when planning instruction. It focuses on providing students with multiple representations of three main brain networks: recognition (what students learn), affective (why students learn), and strategic (how students learn). Follow this link to a professional development slideshow I created for teachers at my campus to better understand and use UDL in their classrooms! References
CAST (2010, January 6). UDL at a glance [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDvKnY0g6e4&feature=youtu.be CAST (2018). UDL and the learning brain. Wakefield, MA: Author. Retrieved from http://www.cast.org/our-work/publications/2018/udl-learning-brain-neuroscience.html CAST (n.d.). About universal design for learning [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://www.cast.org/our-work/about-udl.html#.XdnC7-hKjIW Crenshaw, Kimberlé. (2016, October). The urgency of intersectionality [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/kimberle_crenshaw_the_urgency_of_intersectionality?language=en National Association of Independent Schools. (2018, June 22). Kimberlé Crenshaw: What is Intersectionality? [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViDtnfQ9FHc OldSimo. (2017, August 22). Intersectionality is bad: It’s a form of fetish and pppression Olympics [Image]. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@Old_Simo/intersectionality-is-bad-its-a-form-of-fetish-and-oppression-olympics-a3f5571670b2 You know those bubble soccer games where players can run around, bumping into others, and not get hurt or even touch someone else? They are completely protected by their bubble, and to be honest, it looks like a blast. This silly game makes for a great visual of the “filter bubbles” that Pariser described in his TED Talk. Depending on who you are, where you live, and what you do, the web is filtered and customized for you. Filter bubbles are “your own personal, unique universe of information that you live in online” (Pariser, 2011). And these bubbles are not nearly as good or fun as the giant soccer ones. As our world becomes increasingly more connected and educated thanks to the internet, we can also become more isolated and secluded. Filter bubbles allow us to live comfortably with like opinions streaming into our news feed instead of sitting with discomfort and diversity. I was challenged this week to examine my own media consumption and add opposing ideas and viewpoints to my sphere of the web. I’ve been considering deleting Facebook because it. sucks. so. much. time. Instead, however, I have decided to a) get a handle on my self-control and b) use it to expand my perspectives and professional development. Two of my favorite pages are Cult of Pedagogy and Angela Watson’s Fewer Things, Better book conversations. I then headed over to Twitter. It is incredibly easy to commiserate about the challenges we are presented with as classroom teachers. As a start to push my own thinking on standards and privatization, I followed @NoToCommonCore and @TXPrivateSchool. I may not always agree, but I will definitely learn and be challenged by diverse perspectives on these topics. I hope you’ll join me in intentionally “bursting the bubble.” References
Imgur.com. (2014 Jan 7). Bubble soccer [GIF]. Retrieved from https://gfycat.com/determinedwideafricanrockpython Pariser, Eli. (2011 March). Beware online “filter bubbles” [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles |
Hi there!I'm Sarah! I have a passion for powerful teaching and lifelong learning. I am a 4th grade teacher turned instructional designer, and this is my blog documenting the journey. Click here to get in touch with me. Archives
February 2021
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