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. 1/22/2019. This week in the iNEST maker club, the girls continued working on their geodesic domes, getting the final triangle pieces cut out in preparation for construction. Two groups began working with the MakeDo screwdrivers and screws this week, piecing together their shapes according to the dome design plan/worksheet. Others are nearly finished cutting out their shapes. The club will be on a one-week hiatus with mentors unavailable next week, but we expect to finish dome construction the first week of February before moving on to the next project area.
1/8/2019. This week in the iNEST maker club, the girls kicked off the spring semester with a challenge to create a 2V or two frequency geodesic dome using the club's MakeDo construction kits. Geodesic domes have a natural home in North Carolina owing to Buckminster Fuller who popularized the design at now-defunct Black Mountain College. The girl's challenge involved computing the number of inches in two different triangle shapes (equilateral and isosceles) using online dome calculators, creating a template for those shapes, and cutting out the shapes using scrap cardboard. After cutting out all of their shapes, the girls will begin construction using MakeDo screws. No pair completed cutting out shapes today, so the activity will continue at least one more week. The club will not meet next week due to Dr. Oliver and Jennifer having interview conflicts, but will resume on January 22nd. The club was visited by NC State Education doctoral student Cigdem Meral today, who will assist the club in February by leading small groups of club members through 3D printing challenges. Welcome Cigdem!
12/11/2018. For the record, the iNEST club did not meet on December 11th due to the unexpected early snow storm that closed Wake County Schools.
12/4/2018. One of the project areas in the iNEST maker club that is infrequently visited is "fabrics and fibers." Today in iNEST, the girls were given the option of working with 1) sewn/stuffed felt pieces or 2) the wool felting technique to create small holiday ornaments. Most of the girls chose the felting technique. Before the club meeting, Dr. Oliver prepared a handout with pictures of sample projects that students could complete. This project is synergistic with the soft circuit work the girls completed during October to create light-up Halloween brooches, and in fact these ornaments could be lit-up with LEDs as well, although students only worked with felting today. Next week the club will wrap up for the fall semester with further holiday crafting and a pizza party.
11/27/2018. After a one-week break for Thanksgiving, the girls finished up their MicroBit work today. Students who posted the most reflective FlipGrids on their MicroBit work will be asked to revisit this tool in winter, develop some exemplar projects, and participate in the student showcase on MicroBit that club members will present at the NC-TIES state technology conference in March. Dr. Oliver was out sick today, so there are no photos to share from today's club meeting.
11/13/2018. This week in the iNEST maker club, the girls continued their work with the MicroBit programming platform, branching out from the rock-paper-scissors program that everyone started with last week to work with some of the dozens of projects available at https://makecode.microbit.org/. For example, one pair had fun creating a squishy circuits "keyboard" out of fruit that generated a tone when touched. Another pair created a wristband with scrolling LED messages. If our "student showcase" proposal is accepted for the upcoming NC-TIES state technology conference, some of the girls will be exhibiting their computer programs and Microbits at the conference. The club this week welcomed Eleanor Hasse, the grant's external evaluator, who observed and visited with some of the girls to find out more about their programming projects. The club will be taking a one-week hiatus next week for Thanksgiving, and then back on November 27th to continue work with Microbit.
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Purpose:Dr. Oliver's weekly update of activities in the iNEST Maker Club. Archives
April 2019
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