Maker Education is such a valuable role. These stories will bring you the latest information and tales of maker educators who area spreading the maker mindset. Help others learn how to make things or how to think like a maker at makerspaces, schools, universities, and local communities. The importance of maker education can not be understated. We appreciate our educators.
Starting in 1995, Frank Kovac took ten years constructing amechanical globe planetarium of his own design despite having no prior engineering experience. The Kovac Planetarium in Monico Wisconsin is only the fourth of its kind ever built as well as being the largest in history at 4000 pounds and 22 feet in diameter.
The MIT Open Courseware (OCW) radar materials from Dr. Gregory L. Charvat (and peers) that Matt blogged about back in February have just been released! This is hands-on education that my father, for one, spent a few years of his life (and no small amount of money) to acquire at a fancy university in the late 1960s.
The Build Your Own Light Bulb Kit, from the Maker Shed, is a fun science kit designed to excite and engage experimenters of all ages. Recreate Edison’s experiments that lead to the development of the first real light bulb. The kit contains everything (except batteries) you need to build your own working light bulb using the included vacuum chamber and a number of different filament materials including carbon and tungsten.
As I develop new projects for my classroom this summer, a recurring theme has been to explore just how many times it takes to get a new design right. As far as I am concerned, nothing ever works properly the first time, and it is useful for students and new learners to a subject to recognize this. Programmers call this the iterative process, Engineers use the Engineering Design Process, both of which are relatives to the scientific method. Sure, just about anything can be fixed with duct tape and zip ties, but to get beyond a temporary kludge, you will need to put some time and thought into analyzing the problem and crafting a proper solution.
This great-looking Stirling Engine Kit, from the Maker Shed, is as majestic as a piece of art and it’ll help you understand the basics of thermodynamics. Unlike internal combustion engines, Stirling engines run on an external heat source, which can be anything from combustible fuels to geothermal or solar energy! You can try 3 different experiments: the generator, the fan, and the car.
Teague Lab’s Adam Kumpf sent word that they’ll be having a launch party for the Teagueduino, a snap-and-go Arduino work-alike, at Metrix Create Space, Seattle’s premier maker emporium, on Monday, August 22nd from 6pm-9pm.
Lego, founded by father and son Ole and Gotfred Kirk Christiansen in Billund, Denmark, in 1932, injection molded its first modern-style Lego brick in 1963. Shortly thereafter, in 1964, they introduced the first of their Lego system toys that included printed instructions. Since that time, Lego has manufactured models that range from about ten pieces up to their largest set ever…
