Inspiring New Learning (30 Day Blogging Challenge #7)

Today's prompt:

What new learning has inspired you in your career?

"It's not the vision at all...it's the groping."                                              (Unexpected wisdom from a Northern Exposure episode)

While working to complete the requirements for an endorsement as a Technology Integration Specialist, I've found a great deal of inspiration through the tinkering that I've been able to do as I follow passions ignited by the Maker Movement.  Although I am currently between teaching jobs, I am grateful for the opportunity to be pursuing a self-designed, personalized learning plan that allows me to focus on a variety of things that captivate my interest.  While I have a clear vision for the credentials I am working toward, I am pleasantly groping along a meandering path, inspired by the detours that the Maker Movement has brought my way.

Since attending the Create Make and Learn summer institute this past summer, I have been slowly learning how to code my Lilypad Arduino and Arduino Uno. Although my progress has been incremental, and my devotion has admittedly waxed and waned, it's been the grappling, and the support of others who know more about electronics than I do, that have urged me to keep plugging along.  I've enjoyed participating in communities of learning, such as the one I experienced at Vermont Fest this past week.

While there, I attended an evening workshop called Practical Magic:  Arduinos and Practical Computing with Bryant Patten and a small group of educators.  Within that setting, I figured out ways to apply what I've been learning, whereas before I had been working in isolation, clueless about practical applications of my tooling around.  For example, I learned that I can use an Arduino board to test out a circuit, before soldering the real thing together in a project.  This would have been extremely useful to me a couple of weeks ago when I was attempting my first Make magazine project.

During this workshop, I also discovered that the code for one type of Arduino board can run on just about any Arduino compatible board.  In other words,  I finally figured out that the coding I've done on my LilyPad Arduino can run on my Arduino Uno. While my breakthroughs probably seem insignificant (and less than riveting to read about), I am curious to see just where all of this meandering leads.

What does it mean for me as an educator?  Having these experiences has solidified my commitment to supporting STEAM programs within schools.

Vermont Tech Jam 2014

After several hours of preparation, I led my Spooky Circuit Box challenge at the Vermont Tech Jam today, between 10:00 am and 2:30 pm!  Throughout the day, I shared the activity with close to 50 people!  Although I was exhausted by the end, and didn't have time to chat with friends who stopped by to say, "hi," I had a great time connecting with middle and high school students from a variety of schools.

Through the process of teaching origami and basic circuitry skills, I learned that a multifaceted project like this is best suited for small clusters of students- clusters of four at a time seemed to be the ideal number.  It should also be noted that I felt I had the best success when I was able to teach three people at a time and then have them teach their peers.  This would be equally true in a classroom setting.

The Generator was kind enough to provide me with two tables, so I had a smaller table set up for decorating the paper with rubber stamps.  After decorating their paper, the students completed their boxes and circuits with me, at a much larger table.

In addition to printed directions and a visual diagram of all of the steps, I also engaged in step-by-step demonstrations.

While the step-by-step demonstrations seemed to be well-received, I wish that I'd printed out more copies of the printed directions for those students (and teachers) who were deterred by a tight schedule or the crowds.

In general, I had more girls than boys stop by to make a circuit box.  While the activity itself was gender neutral, a box with bling is most definitely a hit with the ladies!

Perhaps not surprisingly, I discovered that my Mad Monster Candy Snatch Game (thanks, Make magazine) was a huge hit with both genders.  I quickly discovered that when the monster was filled with candy, swarms of students were drawn to my space.

This monster easily could have easily taken up a table of its own!

A Monstrous Success!

After hours of tinkering, I have had a monstrous breakthrough!

In my last post, I had run into an obstacle on my Mad Monster Candy Snatch build.


A singular reply to my plea for help got me on the right track, verifying that I was correct to have soldered new wires to the speakers and pointing out that I could determine the polarity of the wires by looking more closely at the speaker itself.

Although no one had been able to explain how to wire everything up to the transistor, I finally figured it out!

I apologize for the vertical video below, but I was so excited that I got my monster to work that I didn't pay attention!

Here is how I finally got it to work:

1.  Identify the BCE legs of your transistor and set it aside.  I labeled mine.

2.  Solder a second pair of wires to the Radio Shack speaker. (This direction was missing from the ones in the magazine, although the pictures on their website clearly show the addition of extra wires.)  If you look closely at the top of the speaker, you'll be able to determine which wire is positive and which is negative.

3.  After wiring the LEDs in parallel (I connected one 12-inch wire to the negative legs and another 12-inch wire to the positive legs), I soldered one end of the resistor to the end of the positive wire.  I then soldered the positive lead of the second battery to the other end of the resistor.  (This is the second battery, not the one connected directly to the speaker.)

4.  Solder the negative wire attached to your LEDs to the C leg of your transistor.

5.  Solder the positive wire from your speaker to the B leg of your transistor.

6.  Solder the negative wire from your speaker and the negative lead of the second battery to the E leg of your transistor.

7.  Follow the magazine's directions for connecting the alligator clips to the monster and to the wires that you soldered to the speaker.

Good Luck!

GAH! Mad Monster Candy Snatch Game

After receiving my first hard copy of Make magazine, I could not wait to tackle this project, called the Mad Monster Candy Snatch Game.  The next day, I purchased the supplies and got started. After spending close to $30 and countless hours, I still do not have a functioning circuit.

I knew going in that I was confused by a specific part of the directions which stated, 

"Solder up the rest of the circuit for flashing the LEDs: Add the power transistor to the perf board and after noting the E, C, and B legs, wire up the connections to the speaker, then solder the connections to the dropping resistor and the 2 LEDs."  

Although I wasn't quite sure what to do at this point, I'd figured that a combination of experimenting, Googling, tweeting, and emailing might help me conquer the hurdle.  For now, I have reluctantly reached a pausing point.

If you have made this project, or think you might be able to help me, I would be most grateful!

While I'm out of ideas, I am more determined now than ever to figure this sucker out.

Updated 23 Oct. 2014:  I figured it out!

Maker Movement (30 Day Blogging Challenge: Day 24)

Which learning trend captures your attention the most, and why?

This summer, I participated in a professional development opportunity at the Generator maker space in Burlington, Vermont.  The class, called Create Make Learn, brought together educators from across the state to experiment, play, and tinker in a celebration of the creative process.  We were introduced to a menu of options (a well-stocked buffet table) and invited to sample the offerings based upon our personal learning goals.  Among the things I learned during my dabbling was how to solder, create animations, and use a green screen.  I experimented with a 3D printer and e-Textiles, played Minecraft, and designed a jitterbot.

In addition to the fun that this level of play provided, we reflected on ways that our tinkering related to the Next Generation Science Standards and the book Invent to Learn (this link will take you to a previous blog post about this book).

I am drawn to the Maker Movement, because it mixes my love of art with my philosophical belief in the power of constructivism; the Maker Movement goes further by advocating "constructionsim."

(Click on the image to enlarge it).

Like many students with whom I've worked, I do my best learning when I tinker, experiment, and play in a collaborative environment focused on process over product.  It's liberating to create, fail, revise, and make a breakthrough, and then revise again.  The Maker Movement encourages failure and reflection in order to maximize learning.

On a personal level, I challenged myself to weave together my love for bookbinding with my desire to learn more about coding and electronics.  To learn more about my creative process, please visit my Bling the Book blog.

I am a strong advocate for bringing maker spaces into schools as a step toward redesigning education.

Arduino Exploration

I know that it's been a long time since I last posted.  It's not that I haven't tried any new things; it's just that I haven't made posting a priority as summer got underway.

During this last week of June, I puttered around with an Arduino board in my living room and got through many of the tutorials in the Arduino Projects Book.  While it was fun to tinker around with the wires and the different components in the kit (and even more fun to see the lights blink or buzzers sound when the code was uploaded), I've concluded that I am not a natural when it comes to electronics.

This kit is advertised as being easy enough for kids, which made me feel inadequate at multiple points during the journey.  With that said, I have learned that there are perhaps better kits for people like me (and kids). One platform with a variety of connectable components, similar to Legos, is called Little Bits.  At some point, I'd like to compare the Little Bits experience with the Arduino experience.