CC Creativity Club Day #2

On Monday 25 july, the second maker space session was held in room 335 at Collingwood College.

The session was attended by two parents, a student teacher completing his Master’s and interested in Maker Spaces for his research, a primary school teacher, an IT staff member and 8 students from year 2 up to year 6. The student teacher showed CC students hardware devices like the arduino (arduino.cc) and how to program this versatile little device, which is the basis of many robotic (and many other) projects.

More dismantling of electronic toys and computers took place and we reiterated what safety precautions we need to take, how to work safely with tools and the value of the materials we were able to salvage. Many of the materials can be reused in other projects and I’m hoping that this can be motivation for students to consider the up cycling value of many materials that we regularly throw out. There is also the potential for students to learn about the materials (precious metals, plastics, etc.) that are used in the production of electronics and how some of these are scarce resources. Safety glasses are now available for students to use during the dismantling process. We discovered batteries in old computers that still worked and a large heat sink that had the potential of being turned into a musical instrument!!!!

We used our new multimeter to check the battery value and to explore what the word ‘conductive’ means.

I demonstrated the creation of simple optical devices using plastic sheets (acetate) that enable the visualisation of holograms. see attached.

More info here:

http://www.instructables.com/id/No-CD-case-no-tape-3D-hologram-pyramid-the-quickes/

Old laptops have been supplied by IT. We tested some and found that some worked! We will be using them for learning coding (scratch, processing, minecraft modding, gamemaker etc), and working with external programmable hardware devices like the arduino. Old laptops are perfect for our needs because we will not be running anything that requires high processing power or the latest operating system. It is also good to give these old laptops another lease of life.

Two 5th grade students immediately began using one of the old laptops for their ongoing scratch (scratch.mit.edu) project. We now also have 3 new soldering irons for the space as well.

The space is tentatively known as the CC Creativity Club, as the intention is to explore creative applications of technology (in the broadest sense of the word). I am open to other naming possibilities as it is your space. I am also interested in any suggestions, ideas, projects, resources, donations and funding possibilities from students, parents and teachers. I will be manning the space every Monday 3:30 – 5:30pm, unless I have other commitments to attend to.

Maker Space Day #1

On monday 18 july, the first maker space session was held in room 335 at Collingwood College.

one adult and 6 students from year 3 up to year 10 attended. we spent a lot of time dismantling electronic toys and other devices and discussing what safety precautions we need to take, how to work safely with tools and the value of the materials we were able to salvage. ( i really need safety glasses for the students!)

we created drawbots (see attached), using a motor, battery, markers, cups, rubber bands and tape. this interested the students greatly and most attempted to make one of their own once the first unit was built. this introduced students to the simple idea of a circuit and what is needed to power a small motor. we did not have enough motors for every students so we inspected those that we had salvaged from the toys that we dismantled. we discovered that many worked and could then be used to make more drawbots. an example of upcycling!

the students are very curious and highly engaged in the manual processes involved. Older students showed the younger ones things that they had knowledge of which is a great outcome, and the younger students asked many questions! there are many things they want to make!

Bosch have kindly donated 3 battery powered hot glue guns. Internet connected laptops or simple PC’s in the space would be very useful for looking up information, showing students examples, and supporting those students that are interested in learning about coding, writing apps and working with micro-controllers (robotics, etc).

Unless i have other commitments to attend to I will be manning the space every monday 3:30 – 5:00pm.

greg

drawbot video here: here

image here: