Maker’s Corner — Be an Angel
Take a school or teacher under your wing this holiday.
Education
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.
STEM resources for teachers
This weekend I had an opportunity to attend a renewable energy workshop organized by the Southeastern Massachusetts Achievement and Retention in Technology group at Bristol Community College. The morning was packed with teachers sharing their lesson and unit ideas on ideas based around the STEM subjects of green technologies and energy.
The college offers a Lending Lab for tools and lab equipment that most schools are unlikely to stock. Through using these equipment resources, teachers can get their students’ hands onto enough materials to for a series of lessons on windmill design, hydrogen cars, air purity testing, and more. Teachers shared their experiences in bringing this equipment into their classes and how it affected student learning.
Transparent solderless breadboard
Recently I’ve been helping a friend’s 11-year-old daughter get started in electronics. The use of a solderless breadboard was counterintuitive to her until I presented her with one of these clear-cased versions, available through Solarbotics. As she puts it, “you can see where the metal is.”
How education threatens creativity …
Ken Robinson speaks on the importance of creativity and how closely it depends on our freedom to make mistakes. Hmmm … to put it more accurately – Sir Ken Robinson explains how our modern education system represses creative thought by discouraging mistakes. If you’ve ever stared paralyzed at a blank canvas/page/protoboard/ etc, you likely understand […]
Cigar box music player
Cigar boxes are great containers for loads of things. I had a bunch on hand after going to the local wine shops and asking for donated cigar boxes. Inspired by the Rock and Roll Speakers project in Fashioning Technology, it seemed like a good idea to have my students build their own music player embedded in a cigar box. This is a major project, taking several weeks, though it probably could be done by an individual in an afternoon without introducing many of the concepts we’ve worked on.
Flammable ice
This awesome little chemical machine is from Mr. Kent’s chemistry page. Ice is laid in a Pyrex dish over a layer of calcium carbide. As the ice melts, the liquid water reacts with the carbide to produce acetylene gas, which of course is highly flammable. A match starts it off, and then it burns continuously on its own. My first thought was that the system could rapidly spiral out of control–more heat melts more water makes more gas makes even more heat. But it’s limited by the amount of oxygen that can get down into the pan, I think. My second thought was that maybe a bit of sodium metal down there with the carbide could make the process self-igniting…. (For God’s sake, no one try that.)
Inside-out horse for educational purposes
Gillian Higgins teaches horse owners about what’s “under the hood.” To do so, she very carefully paints detailed anatomical art onto the pelt of her white horses “Freddie Fox” and “Henry.”
