Today we broke up in to groups and drew our design ideas on our workbenches, then translated those into cardboard. We have some work to do as you can see, but I always draw my ideas too, so the students can see the level of refinement and detail they'll need to add to their designs. Next week each student will get a 1.5 gallon plain paint can as the starting place for their design. We'll have 10 class periods to take that paint can from raw metal can to efficient working stove. Wish us luck! --David St. Martin
We have a room full of tools. We've spent the last weeks learning to use them. We have an exciting challenge to create a portable, efficient and nearly smokeless wood burning stove and we have learned some lessons from our early rough prototypes, so we think we know what we're doing! All that knowledge isn't worth much unless we can plan out our next steps and prepare to make more refined prototypes though! Today we broke up in to groups and drew our design ideas on our workbenches, then translated those into cardboard. We have some work to do as you can see, but I always draw my ideas too, so the students can see the level of refinement and detail they'll need to add to their designs. Next week each student will get a 1.5 gallon plain paint can as the starting place for their design. We'll have 10 class periods to take that paint can from raw metal can to efficient working stove. Wish us luck! --David St. Martin
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Yesterday, I had the pleasure of watching If You Build It, an inspiring documentary about Kent Middle School graduate Emily Pilloton's (and her partner, Matthew Miller's) work to teach design and building skills to high school students in rural Windsor, NC. I won't give away the ending which is quite stunning but the students design something to help support their community and learn much from the process. Emily answered questions from the audience after the screening. She and Matthew are now working at Realm Charter School in Berkeley teaching 275 students these same skills as part of Studio H. If you can't catch the film, check out Emily's Ted Talk: And tonight I attended the Lawrence Hall of Science's Educator Night. Growing up in Berkeley, I loved going to the Lawrence Hall of Science as a kid and now enjoy taking my sons there as a parent. Tonight was a chance for teachers to experience hands-on exhibits that allow for design and testing of everything from marble runs to automata to hydraulic machines. I definitely came away with some great ideas for student projects at Mark Day School.
— Tatian Greenleaf I'm excited to say our tool wall is growing! Having the right tools for the job can mean the difference between a successful project and a frustratingly difficult one. I love showing students how to use a tool properly, and being able to point them toward a tool that will help them make what they have in mind.
The spot welder created a buzz of excitement. It's our first power tool, and we're learning to use it safely and effectively as we start our design/build portable cook stove project!--David St. Martin After participating in a workshop at Castilleja's Design, Do, Discover conference, I was determined to include paper circuits in my curriculum this year. Paper circuits are electrical circuits made from copper tape, batteries, and LEDs. My first attempts at paper circuits were not too successful. I had trouble completing the circuit and my LEDs would not stay lit consistently. Now I've found a video that offers a tip that made all the difference. It is the Simple Circuit Demo video at http://www.nexmap.org/hacking-the-storybook. The tip was to fold the copper foil tape at a 90° angle and then fold it back over itself and also to do this where the battery connection occurs. I also plan to purchase circuit stickers since they are much larger and easier to work with than the tiny surface mount LEDs I had bought before. Here are the results of my most recent effort to add a paper circuit to my handmade journal. I plan to have my third grade IDEA Lab students do this soon to enhance their journals. — Tatian Greenleaf
The third graders made their own journals last week by combining card stock covers with stacks of lined paper and bookmark ribbons, along with a QR code to this very blog. I then sewed all of the bindings so that they stay together. I've made an Instructable that explains this process here. The students will be using their journals throughout their IDEA Lab tinkering class to brainstorm, sketch, and take notes from their observations. The first page of the journals has a wordle containing our theme this year, the 5 B's: Build, Beautiful, Bot, Burst, and Become. — Tatian Greenleaf
Our 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders are helping us kick off the global Cardboard Challenge at lunch time in the Open Lab: — Tatian Greenleaf
Another exciting tool just arrived in the Open Lab! The first print, a small robot, took about 30 minutes. It prints using biodegradable PLA. Here is the very start of the process: And some shots from our second printing session, a handy pair of tweezers from Thingiverse: — Tatian Greenleaf
Using these instructions from the Exploratorium, I built a marble run peg board. We're hoping to use these with students in the Open Lab this year. Here's a video of my son explaining how it works and demonstrating a run: The first version worked fine but I learned a few things from the process:
1. The cove moulding I bought fits a marble but the bottom of the wood is a V shape and doesn't balance well on the pegs. I had to use a lot of masking tape to keep everything together. At the Exploratorium, they had carved out grooves for the pegs to fit into on the bottom of the moulding but they also used flat-bottom moulding. This: Not this: It's hard to contain my excitement now that this box is sitting outside of the Open Lab. Inside the box is the Epilog Helix Laser Cutter. All summer long, I attended workshops where we designed and cut wonderful things (boxes, puzzles, rubber stamps, etc.) using a laser cutter. We still have to set up the device, connect the ventilation system, and go through a training from Epilog but... it's going to be available for students and faculty to use soon! If you're wondering what a laser cutter does, here are some links to various laser cut creations: Laser cutting: 7 inspiring creations Laser cut creations on Instructables My own Self-Portrait Puzzle lesson on Instructables Epiloglaser.com samples And to see it in action, watch this. And now that it's unboxed, here's another photo: — Tatian Greenleaf
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AuthorsTatian Greenleaf is the Design, Tinkering and Technology Intergrator at Mark Day School. |