9/4/2018 This week the I-NEST maker club held its first meeting of the new school year with a record 44 students in attendance. The new club mentors introduced themselves (i.e., new media specialist Laura Ferguson, and continuing teacher mentors Nikki Crumley, Vanessa Wilkes, and Spencer Williams), along with continuing NC State mentors Dr. Kevin Oliver, doctoral student Jennifer Houchins, and new undergraduate assistant from the College of Engineering, Manishka Mathur. Students worked on a SpinBot for their first project this week involving simple circuitry with wired motors and fabricated propellers. In coming weeks, we will be working with new materials acquired for 2018-19 in MakeDo kits and MicroBit controllers.
5/1/2018. After a two-week hiatus in which the school held its STEM night, this week the iNEST maker club resumed with students continuing with various felting projects and two new Sphero stations being rolled out--painting and search and rescue in water. The project's external evaluator Eleanor Hasse visited this week to conduct her bi-annual observation of the club. Next week is the final week of the club this school year with a few wrap-up activities and a pizza party.
After returning from the USA Science and Engineering Festival, the girls got back into their makerspace activities today, working with sphero robotics navigation activities as well as wool felting. Our first two sphero stations were set up with the girls navigating the spheros around a terrain park and two "bowling" alleys. Other girls continued their work with wool felting. In the coming weeks, we will be rolling out new sphero stations such as "painting" and "search and rescue." Stay tuned! It is notable that in the background of these other activities, students continue using the club's 3d printers. One girl was observed 3d-printing a mock Parthenon today to go with a social studies activity in her class. It's exciting to see the girls continue to use 3d printing for varied applications. On April 5th and 6th, 22 girls from the maker club traveled to Washington, DC, on an overnight field trip, escorted by chaperones Nikki Crumley, Deborah Dupree, Jennifer Houchins, Kevin Oliver, Mary Clay Vick, and Spencer Williams. The girls attended the USA Science and Engineering Festival in downtown Washington, DC, at the city convention center. This massive expo was spread across five exhibition halls and included interactive activities aimed at interesting students in STEM colleges and career tracks. The girls had an opportunity to visit booths ran by different STEM programs at leading colleges such as Georgia Tech and Penn State, as well as booths ran by numerous governmental organizations (e.g., EPA, NASA, Homeland Security, military, NSF, USDA, NIH), and numerous private organizations (e.g., SeaWorld, Lockheed Martin, PwC, Chevon). One of our club members even won a sphero robot from the PwC booth, and everyone came away buttons, bags, headgear, and other kid-oriented swag. Overall, the group had a great time and really enjoyed the opportunity to travel. Thanks to the Burroughs-Wellcome Fund for sponsoring this memorable opportunity. On March 27th, the maker club started its new programmed robotics unit with the Sphero platform. This week, Jennifer led the girls in some orientation activities to show them how to use the robots. At the next club meeting, the girls will be working their way through several stations, completing different activities with the Spheros (e.g., navigating a maze, bowling, search and rescue in water). Since the club only has eight spheros, the girls were divided into two groups this week. Half of the club worked with Sphero, and the other half started working with felted objects. The two groups will flip and work with the alternate platform in a few weeks. For the group working with felted objects, the club mentors explained how wool fibers pull together when heated, pressed, or manipulated, using the analogy of a shrinking wool sweater. The girls will be manipulating wool with felting needles, pulling their fibers tighter and tighter as they form shapes. Most of the girls are following guides posted on this Web site with step-by-step instructions for felting a wool animal. Next week, there will be no club meeting because the club will be taking a field trip to Washington, DC, for the USA Science and Engineering Festival. Almost the entire club will be traveling to the festival--more than 20 girls.
3/13/2018. After a three-hour snow delay this morning, the maker club did manage to fit in our weekly meeting where students continued working with the TinkerCad software program to design 3D models for 3D printing. Several students worked with the LulzBot 3D printers in the library, and others saved their designs to our shared folder for printing at a later date. The club will be off next week for spring break, and then back in a couple of weeks to start another programmable robotics unit with Sphero.
3/6/2018. This week in iNEST, the girls set up new accounts on TinkerCad and started working with a set of "basics" tutorials that show them how to complete basics steps in the program such as punching holes in objects, layering objects, and combining objects. The outcome of work in TinkerCad are 3D models that get pushed to the club's two LulzBot 3D printers. This week seven students submitted files to the club's shared drive to place in the cue for 3D printing. Two other students printed 3D models this week. Several parents came in this afternoon to hear about the club's upcoming overnight field trip to the USA Science and Engineering Expo in Washington, DC. After Mary Clay and Deborah went over trip logistics, the parents joined their child in the club meeting room to see what they were working on in TinkerCad. We will continue with the 3D printing unit for a few more weeks, and then will transition to another programmable robotic platform--the Spheros.
2/27/2018 and 3/1/2018. This week in the iNEST maker club, the girls put the finishing touches on their Hummingbird robotics projects. Dr. Oliver brought to the school some 3d-printed mechanisms for the girls to try out with their servos, and Mrs. Dupree worked with some of the club members to 3d-print some cardboard-punches that also hold Hummingbird servos in place on cardboard constructions. Some of the girls helped out in the club this week by making posters for Thursday's student showcase at the state technology conference, NC-TIES. Thanks to everyone who helped the club get ready for this event, packing up robots and electrical supplies, scheduling bus transportation, and chaperoning the event. The girls who attended NC-TIES on Thursday did a great job representing the club and school, speaking with several teachers and many of their peer students about their work with Hummingbird. Check out the pics below! We attracted a big crowd and lots of interest in Hummingbird projects! After the showcase, the girls enjoyed walking through the vendor exhibit area and checking out some of the latest educational technologies on the market such as virtual reality headsets, promethean table top screens, and further robotics platforms like ozobots. Great job everyone!
2/20/2018. As some of the girls were finishing up with their first Hummingbird robotics projects, this week the maker club kicked off with a short video showing different types of mechanisms that can be incorporated into future projects. Dr. Oliver shared a handout showing different kinds of Hummingbird projects other students have created to inspire the girls to try building a different type of robot (e.g., animate an animal, animate a famous work of art, animate a sports figure with relevant motion like throwing a baseball, animate a character from a popular book, make a game that incorporates motion like randomly moving hands that try to keep a ping pong ball from entering a basket, and more). Next week, the three groups that will be attending and sharing their finished Hummingbird projects at the NC-TIES state technology conference will spend some time making posters for the showcase.
2/13/2018. This week in iNEST, several teams demonstrated their developing Hummingbird robots with moving sensors/motors and blinking LEDs, triggered by sound and distance sensors. The girls will add finishing touches to their robots over the next couple of weeks, and extension activities have been distributed for teams that are finishing their robots early, including adding virtual elements in Scratch to accompany the physical robot, and incorporating a robot into a Scratch game by working with Scratch variables. In two weeks on March 1st, a couple of teams will be demonstrating their robots at a student showcase held at the state technology conference, NC-TIES. Also happening this week in iNEST, Mrs. Dupree finished collecting permission slips for the club's spring, overnight field trip to the USA Science and Engineering Festival in Washington DC. We're pleased that more than 20 club members will be traveling to the festival this year. |
Purpose:Dr. Oliver's weekly update of activities in the iNEST Maker Club. Archives
April 2019
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