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Well, I was prepared for lots of excitement today, and it didn't disappoint. I put out as many types of robot as I could, so we ended up with BeeBots, ProBots, Roamer Toos, Attacknids and Spheros. I also put out the robot arm. All were used (took quite amount of time to put in all the batteries beforehand). The Spheros were popular, and I also put out some cylindrical cones so the students could design their own obstacle courses. This is where things became interesting - someone requested tape and put a Sphero into the middle. They ended up with an elliptical sphere that produced unpredictable movement when the Sphero was activated!
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Today we used the DK book about Cardboard Engineering to make and paint carboard owls. The students needed quite a lot of assistance with cutting out the beak, but were great with the paint and not spilling it over the floor!
A new month so a new co-curricular club! Today we had 17 Gr1 & Gr2 students come to the first Makerspace of 2018. After watching a couple of videos about Paper Circuits they they had a choice of using Lego or Polydron or the puzzle game 3 Slices. We had over an hour for each student to work with me assembling their paper circuit. I had already put on the copper tape, so they had to complete the circuit by choosing an LED and battery. Next week they can make their own circuit using the copper tape themselves. It was a nice relaxing atmosphere, and the students were well pleased with their light up cards. Our Librarian Lori read The Sharing Circle by Theresa “Corky” Larsen-Jonasson, so Meg a Gr1 teacher planned an ADST unit for students to design and create their own talking sticks. Despite the pouring rain they collected a stick from outside in the garden, then decorated them with pipe cleaners, yarn, beads and feathers. Some also chose to use paint. Here is some of the process (some of these photos are student taken with an iPad): As I was working in the Gr2 class we decided to use the iPads so that students could create their own videos using the Photos App. It was certainly very easy for the students to create the videos, but there was very little control for students to adjust the order or individually select photos. Here is an example:
In the latest iOS there's the option in the Control Centre to capture a screen recording. We tested it out in a Grade 1 class using the Scratch Jr App on the iPad. Here's an example:
I've been wanting to try making paper circuits for a while, and ordered some coin batteries and LED bulbs from Amazon.ca. I had some spare copper tape, and asked our Gr1 teachers if they were interested in making Valentine's Day cards. One class had already started their love bugs, so we decided to ask the students to choose a love bug to light up. It proved a bit fiddly for the students, who needed quite a lot of assistance. Here is the result: It's been a few months since I researched 3D printer apps, so I took another look at what was around. I came across 3DSlash (essentially like a sculpting tool) and wanted to trial it with our Gr3 students. As they're studying First Nations pre-European contact, in conjunction with the class teachers we decided to create Inukshuks. Once I had worked out how to save the student work (using a free account we're only able to log in two students at a time) we got to work. The first session was free play to explore how the app worked, then the second session focussed on the Inukshuk design. Not every student was able to finish, so we'll need one more session in order for everyone to have a finished product. The results speak for them selves! Grade 3 students are studying Coast Salish First Nations (pre European contact) and there are not many online resources. Together with the Gr3 teachers we came up with the idea of creating original Coast Salish art using the First Nation design elements. We used the following sites for reference: http://uvac.uvic.ca/gallery/salishcurriculum/ http://classrooms.tacoma.k12.wa.us/ses/mr-potts-3rd-grade/coast-salish-art-resources Here is some of the student work they produced: I downloaded a sample sumobot program to calibrate the light sensor and then to test it on the playfield. Now it's a question of programming the proximity sensor to detect the opposing bot. It was interesting seeing the students test their designs. Some were able to identify issues, and then suggest a design improvement. Here are a couple of videos frpom the day:
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AuthorAfter many years in the Archives
March 2018
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