2/26/2019. This week in the iNEST maker club, the girls continued working on 3d printing projects and Hummingbird robotics projects. Kevin and Jennifer brought laptops from NC State loaded with the right Hummingbird software to facilitate student programming of their robots. A full supply of 3d printer filament was also brought to the school to facilitate future printing projects. We expect the girls working with Hummingbird to get into their coding next week, as most were starting to figure out which sensors and effectors they wanted to use with their projects this week. Stay tuned for pics! The club welcomed back Deborah Dupree today, former media specialist, who was subbing on campus for the first time since her retirement last spring. Welcome back Deborah!
2-19-2019. This week in the iNEST maker club, the girls continued their work in three smaller break out groups on 3d printing activities, Hummingbird robotics, and Microbit programming. The girls working on 3d printing were challenged by Cigdem to design and 3d print different cloud types to build a collection of cloud objects. The girls working on Hummingbird continued to design their robots, figuring out how to attach cardboard pieces to servos and motors to allow for robotic motion. One of the Microbit teams that will be presenting a student showcase at the upcoming NC-TIES state technology conference worked on a conductive fruit keyboard. All project activities will be continuing next week.
2/12/2019. This week in the maker club we moved on from geodesic dome design to three new project areas. The girls in the club were divided into three groups. The girls that were selected to present our student showcase at the NC-TIES conference went back to work with Micro.bit programming projects, as they will be showcasing Micro.bit at the conference. The girls who were in the club last year moved over to the media center to work with NC State education doctoral student Cigdem Meral on 3d printing activities. Finally, the girls who were not in the club last year got started working with the Hummingbird robotics platform, playing back videos of existing projects to get a feel for the technology and what it can do, and planning the design of their own robot. Club mentors are still working to get laptops loaded with appropriate software for Hummingbird, so the girls spent this week working on the cardboard bases and pieces that will make up the elements of their robot.
2/5/2019. The grand experiment in geodesic design did not go so well with only two groups finishing their triangle cut-outs and starting to construct their domes this week. After three weeks, we need to put this project aside to move on to other project areas next week. Lessons learned? Give students a template for the two triangle shapes they need to cut out instead of wasting time measuring and creating that template on their own. Or perhaps even cut out the shapes in advance so students can concentrate on building instead of the menial task of cutting out dozens of triangle shapes. Cutting cardboard is not easy with scissors, and schools don't trust kids not to cut desks with x-acto or other carpet knives, so that too slows down the process. We do think kids would enjoy constructing domes with our MakeDo construction kits, but unfortunately the considerable up-front work of preparing triangle pieces proved to be de-motivating and un-interesting over several weeks time.
Another activity some of our club members participated in this week was a virtual field trip using virtual reality headsets to a live remote site that was demonstrating a science experiment. The College of Education at NC State brought this equipment to the school to test a new approach for live virtual field trips, and the girls were able to provide feedback on the experience. |
Purpose:Dr. Oliver's weekly update of activities in the iNEST Maker Club. Archives
April 2019
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