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Over the summer of 2021, I collaborated with our 6th grade science teacher as part of a grant to find ways to incorporate makerspace activities into the curriculum. (Look for posts coming soon about some of the projects we did). Part of our work was reading the book, Making Science: Reimagining STEM Education in Middle School and Beyond. I found it to be a fantastic, practical resource for bringing hands-on maker learning into the classroom. Reading this book as a maker librarian gave me a ton of ideas for new ways to collaborate with our STEM classes. And it’s an excellent resource for classroom teachers as well.
Via John Evans
he Cardboard Challenge remains one of my all-time favorite makerspace activities. I love how accessible it is to students. How enthusiastic and creative they can be with such simple materials. I’ll never forget one of my favorite makerspace moments – my students at Stewart were Skyping with another school that was looking to start a makerspace. They asked my students what their favorite thing in our makerspace was. The answer could have been robots, or circuits, or a 3D printer. But their answer was: “Cardboard! We have so much cardboard! It’s awesome!”.
Via John Evans
Launched on IndieGogo a few months ago after 2+ years in development, Crowbits is a STEM education project that leverages both the Arduino and ESP32 boards, in addition to the BBC Micro:bit, to teach logical thinking and programming. Featuring Lego-blocks compatibility and a Scratch-like interface, the project has reached its IndieGogo backing goal and is ready to ship, says Crowbits' maker Elecrow.
Crowbits are little plug-and-play blocks that can snap together thanks to their magnetic Pogo pins, which makes it easy to connect crowbits with one another. Elecrow has already built 40+ different crowbits, including a DC motor, a buzzer, a LED, a gesture sensor, and many more. In addition to input and ouput modules, you also have programmable micro-controllers and IIC/UART modules. Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren: https://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=ARDUINO
Via Gust MEES
Celebrate St Patricks Day at your makerspace by creating these fun light up cards.
This STEM project is perfect for beginners who are looking to learn about electricity and circuits. Included in this tutorial is a free PDF project template along with step by step directions.
May the luck of the Irish be with you !
Via John Evans
Can you create a constellation? Our STEAM Challenge is a great way to invite students to practice researching and use their imagination, in a way that will get them excited to create a constellation. For this challenge, students will use simple items to create a constellation. What you need: Toothpicks Marshmallows Con
Via John Evans
Schools don’t need a lot of money or a dedicated space to try maker education—a cart with some basic materials will suffice.
Via John Evans
With the current pandemic in the world, the situation seems pretty scary. The Corona virus might be anywhere. As far as we know, one might carry the virus for a few days without even showing any symptoms. Scary indeed.
But hey, don't get too scared. There are some easy ways we can fight against this virus. One is to wash our hands, properly. Our hands are the main carrier of all sorts of germs. We frequently touch our eyes, nose, and mouth without even noticing it. Germs from unwashed hands might get into our food as well, some of which may even grow in the food and when we eat those, they can make us seriously sick. And washing hands with soap can mostly kill them. Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren: https://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=ARDUINO https://www.scoop.it/topic/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=coronavirus
Via Gust MEES
Get into the holiday season by making these Christmas light-up cards using paper circuits.
Learn how to create a simple circuit using copper tape, a coin cell battery and an LED light.
Via John Evans, Juergen Wagner
A Bristlebot is a small robot made by combining a toothbrush head and a vibrating pager motor. The vibrations from the pager motor travel down the bristles and cause the brush to scoot and spin on flat surfaces. This activity is great for kids as young as 10 years old.
This guide provides step-by-step instructions with pictures and video on how to make your own Bristlebot.
Via John Evans
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One of the easiest circuits to make is a simple circuit. In this tutorial, we will show you how to make a VERY simple circuit using copper tape, an LED and a coin cell battery.
This project can be completed in less than 5 minutes and the template includes two projects per page.
Via John Evans
Cardboard challenges have been a core part of my makerspace programming for the past eight years. I continue to be amazed year after year at the amazing ideas students come up with when given a design challenge and simple, everyday materials. In Part 1 of this post series, I looked at some of my favorite tools to help facilitate cardboard challenges. In this post, I focus on other tips and tricks I’ve learned over the years. Here, I’ll talk about:
*Storage ideas for wrangling all that cardboard and managing those in-progress projects
* Adding in recyclable materials
*Using Design Challenge and constraints to help spur creativity
Via John Evans
Turning abstract concepts like symbolism and imagery into 3D representations develops deeper understanding and engagement.
Via John Evans
Inspire the future generation of scientists
The Arduino Science Journal is a mobile application that allows anyone to conduct scientific experiments by measuring the surrounding world with sensors, documenting and comparing data, developing and validating hypotheses, and taking notes.
The app and all learning materials are free, open-source, and available for download for Android and iOS devices. Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren: https://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=ARDUINO
Via Gust MEES
To say it’s been an interesting school year so far would be an understatement. This has definitely been the most challenging year of my career. I consider myself lucky to be working at a school that has the resources and leadership to keep us safe. I know that many, many schools have been left behind. But even with that, this year has been exhausting. I’ve had to almost completely rethink and reimagine how I run my library program. This while also living with the constant low-grade anxiety of living in a global pandemic.
This is a multiple post series. In this first part, I want to give you an overview of what my school has been doing during COVID and how my library’s physical space has adapted. For the second post, I’ll talk about programs I’ve done to encourage reading, plus collaborations with teachers. In the last post, I’ll share how we’ve adapted our makerspace activities to make them work in our current environmen
Via John Evans
With extra time at home, we’re seeing an incredible amount of gardens and yard projects popping up all over social media. The weather is right, and surely we can all use something give us even a momentary distraction from Covid-19. Why not get out in the sun, feel the dirt on your hands, and make or grow something?
Via John Evans
Do you have little builders in your house? I’ve got a post for you! Or maybe you have a reluctant builder like I do. I’ve got a post for you too! It’s 100 Invitations to Build, a must download list of fun, unusual even downright silly things that you can build with. Because building helps kids develop in so many ways – fine motor skills, problem solving skills, spatial awareness, creative imagination, the list keeps going.
Via John Evans
Turns out, it’s less about “teaching” creativity to children — and more about creating a fertile environment in which their creativity will take root, grow and flourish. Researcher Mitch Resnick, director of the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at MIT, explains how we can do this.
Via John Evans
Mark it in your diaries love birds, February 14th is the day of love and romance across the globe. Celebrate Valentine's Day and romantic love, friendship and admiration with videos of decorated sweet treats or couples who pull at the heartstrings. All videos are free and ready to be used for any creative purpose under the Mixkit License.
Via John Evans
Looking for a fun makerspace project that you can do around the holidays? This tutorial will show you how to create light-up Christmas cards using copper tape, LEDs and a coin cell battery.
Paper circuits are a fun way to discover the basics of electricity and circuits in your STEM lab or makerspace.
Included in this tutorial are free printable project templates. The 4 designs come in full color and BW (color it yourself). Have fun !
Via John Evans
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It is often the case that you don't have all the components required to build a circuit that is developing in your mind. Or, perhaps the circuit you wish to develop uses dangerously high voltages and currents. In such cases, it makes sense to use a simulator to test the idea in safety. Simulators are now commonly available, with the Tinkercad Circuits platform covered here accessible in your web browser. As well as simulating circuits, it can also execute Arduino code, as we show here. Circuit simulation made simple!
Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:
https://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=ARDUINO
https://www.scoop.it/topic/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=Simulations